A Time Travel Disaster
by Tabby Kitten
Summary: James Sirius Potter accidentally sends himself and his cousins back to 1998. The consequences could be disastrous, and a mysterious family album seems to have complicated matters . . .
1. Chapter 1

**July 2019**

"I'm bored." James Potter loudly complained from his place on the couch.

Teddy Lupin's head immediately snapped up from the book he was reading; James being bored was never a good thing. "Why don't you play some quidditch?" He asked.

"It's too hot." James groaned.

"Besides, we lost one of the bludgers." Roxanne added. "There's really no point in playing without both."

"You mean to tell me that there's a blunger zooming around muggle London right now?"

"Maybe. It may or may not be in London." Said James.

"Oh, heads are going to roll at the ministry." Teddy moaned. "Here I am trying to be a model ministry wizard, and my own cousins set a blunger loose in muggle London."

"Hey, it'll be fine." Said Victoire, sliding in next to him and slipping an arm around his shoulders. "And James, if you're bored you can go clean your room."

"Watch over your cousins while we're at the ministry dinner, they said, it'll be fun, they said." Said Teddy. He leaned back and surveyed the living room of the Potter Manor, where the Weasleys and Potters were hanging out: James, Fred, and Louis, whispering together in a corner; Dominique and Roxanne gossiping about the hot Hufflepuff seeker; Lucy, buried deep in her father's copy of _Prefects Who Gained Power;_ Albus and Rose paging through an old family album and laughing at pictures of their teenage parents; and Lilly, Molly, and Hugo, playing an intense game of Exploding Snap.

"We'll be fine." Said Victoire. "No one has died yet."

"Emphasis on yet." Said Teddy.

"It'll probably be James who accidentally kills someone." Said Victoire.

"Either him or Fred. Speaking of, where did they go?"

"That's not good." Said Victoire.

"Louis, where'd James and Fred go?"

"Nowhere." Lied Louis.

"They went somewhere and you're covering for them." Said Victoire angrily. "I swear, if they're planning another prank-"

There was a muffled thump from upstairs, causing all of them to look up nervously. Teddy and Victoire drew their wands and ran towards the stairs as James and Fred came down, trying to stifle their laughter.

"This'll be so much fun." Fred giggled.

"What've you done now? If you've put another frog in my bed, I'll make you pay!" Albus yelled from across the room.

"Oh please Al, that was five years ago." Said James. "Don't worry, because we'll be doing much more interesting." He opened his hand to reveal a tiny hourglass dangling from a long gold chain. "Found it in Dad's office."

Teddy gripped his wand tighter. "James Sirius Potter, put that down now. You could get in serious trouble!"

"C'mon, Teddy. Haven't you always wanted to go back in time? Meet the marauders? Uncle Fred? Your parents?"

Teddy bristled. "As much as I'd like to see my parents, I really don't think it's worth a trip to Azkaban! Now give me the time turner!" He stepped toward James, who tripped over a couch leg and fell onto Rose, who was holding the album under her arm. They fell hard on the ground, both covered in fine sand.

"Are you guys okay?" Victoire asked.

"That's time turner sand, don't touch anything!" Teddy yelled.

"James, you've broken a magical item and gotten sand all over a family heirloom!" Rose shrieked. "If you ruined the album-"

She never finished her sentence. The sand spun faster and faster into a swirling vortex, sucking all thirteen of them into the void.


	2. Chapter 2

**Victoire's POV**

When the whirling sand dissipated, Victoire found herself staring at the vaulted ceiling of the living room at Shell Cottage.

"What happened?" Said a voice.

Victoire turned and saw Dominique lying next to her, trying to brush the sand off herself.

"The time turner was completely whack, that's what happened." Said Louis. "We wanted to go back in time, but it just sent us home."

"But where's everyone else?" Asked Dominique. "Did they get sent back to their homes?"

"Um, guys?" Victoire was looking over their shoulders, towards the doorway to the kitchen. "I think it did a little more than send us home." She pointed to the doorway, where a much younger Bill and Fleur were standing, pointing their wands at the children.

"Who are you?" Bill asked. "And how did you get in here? This house is protected by the Fidelius charm! If you're connected to you-know-who . . . " He sputtered into silence.

Victoire carefully removed her wand from her pocket and set it on the coffee table, then stepped back and held out her empty hands to show she wasn't a threat. Dominique and Louis quickly followed suit.

"Well, you got us into this." Said Dominique, jabbing Louis. "Why don't you explain."

"I did not. This is James' fault." He muttered back. Then, in a louder voice, he asked, "What year is this?"

"You've got to be joking." Bill said.

"I'm not. We had a little accident with a time turner."

Fleur stepped forward and siphoned up a small amount of the sand with her wand and murmured a few spells. Her wand shot green sparks. "Zey are not joking, eet ees time turner sand. Today's date ees March 4, 1998."

"It was 2019 in our time, so we've gone back 21 years." Said Victoire. "Oh, I'm going to kill James!"

"Who's James?" Asked Bill.

"Our cousin and the reason we're in this mess." Victoire angrily replied.

A cousin named James . . . A new suspicion was forming in Bill's mind as he watched them. A young woman who greatly resembled Fleur . . . A lanky teenage boy with his silver-blond hair tied back in a short ponytail . . . Another young woman with red hair, freckles, and features that closely resembled his own . . . "Another question for you." He said. "Are you three our children?"

They nodded. "How'd you figure it out?" Dominique asked.

"Deductive reasoning. You all look vaguely familiar, and if you're from 2019, you're about the right ages. Plus I thought I heard one of you say that the time turner sent you home."

"We were just sitting down to dinner. Why don't you come een to the dining room and tell us a beet about yourselves?" Said Fleur.

"I'll start us off." Said Louis as he took a large helping of mashed potatoes. "I'm Louis Arthur Weasley, your youngest and best child."

Dominique snorted into her plate.

"You know it's true, Dom. Anyway, I'm fifteen and starting my fifth year at Hogwarts, in Gryffindor of course, and I spend my time flirting with good-looking girls and helping my cousins get away with pranks."

"And how do you do that?" Bill asked, not looking entirely pleased.

"I usually tell the teachers that there's no way my dear, sweet cousins could ever pull off such a nasty prank. Just turn on a little veela charm, and they'll do whatever I want."

"Great. Wonderful. And how many howlers has this earned you?"

"A lot. It's not so bad unless James gets one at the same time, because Aunt Ginny yells much louder than you guys usually do."

"Enough about you, Louis." Dominique butted in, pulling a strand of red hair out of her face. "Let's talk about me. I'm Dominque Minerva Weasley, and I am actually your best child. I'm also in Gryffindor and I'll be a seventh-year in fall, and when I'm not studying, I'm kicking James' sorry arse on the Quiditch pitch. We're both chasers on the house team, but I'm better."

"And I'm Victoire, and sometimes I want to pretend I'm not related to these two." Victoire added. She was going to say more, but stopped at the look on her mother's face.

"Your name ees Victoire?" Fleur asked softly. Her face looked like Christmas had come early.

Bill looked at her in confusion.

"Beell," She said, poking him, "Victoire ees French for victory."

"Victory?" He asked. "Did we win? Did we get you-know-who? Is that what it means?"

Dominique nodded. "Uncle Harry killed him with expeliarmus. His favorite spell."

"We really did it." Bill whispered. "A better future. Please, Victoire, continue."

"I'm nineteen, and I was in Ravenclaw." Victoire continued. "And-" She was cut off by a loud ringing noise. She grabbed something from her pocket and pressed a button, then started talking to someone. "Hi Teddy." She said, the relief obvious in her voice.

"What is that thing? And who is Teddy?" Asked Bill.

"That's a cell phone. Originally a muggle contraption for talking to people, but now we've got wizard versions that work with magic." Dominique supplied.

"And Teddy's her boyfriend." Said Louis.

"Her smart, competent boyfriend whom she's allowed to date because she's an adult and can make her own choices." Dominique added, seeing the murderous look on Bill's face.

Victoire hung up the phone and turned to face the others. "Teddy's also in 1998; he's at Auntie Muriel's with James, Fred, and Roxanne. He says it would be safest if we went there too, since most of the order's there."

"We should come too." Said Bill, already reaching for his cloak.

"The floo network ees being watched by the ministry. Can you apparate?" Fleur asked.

"Dom and I can, but someone'll need to take Louis side-along." Said Victoire.

"We'll do it on my count, so we all arrive at the same time." Said Bill as he took Louis' arm. "one—two—three!" And with a faint pop, all five of them vanished.


	3. Chapter 3

"Keep each other safe. Keep faith. Goodnight." Lee switched the recording equipment off and the lights on the wireless went dark. "Good work, guys." He said.

"I just wish we had happier news to report." Said George as he opened the door to Auntie Muriel's stuffy sitting room, where Mrs. Weasley and Ginny had been listening to their _Potterwatch_ broadcast.

"Whether or not our news is happy, it's important to keep hope alive." Said Remus as he entered the room. "Thanks for all your help with the broadcast."

"Yeah, well-" Fred started to say when he was cut off by a loud bang. A swirling vortex of sand appeared in the middle of the room, dumping four people on the floor. Everyone immediately jumped to their feet and grabbed their wands, staring as the four slowly picked themselves up from the floor. There was a pair of teens with dark curly hair who were obviously siblings, a lanky young man with blue hair, and a boy who bore a curious resemblance to Harry Potter, only with brown hair and freckles.

The boy who looked like Harry glanced around the room. They saw his eyes widen, then heard him mutter, "Oh shit."

Meanwhile, the blue-haired man was brushing sand off the others, asking them, "Are you all right? Fred? Roxy? James?"

"Err . . . hello." Said James, trying to break the awkward silence. "Can anyone tell me what year it is?"

"It's 1998. Why?" Kingsley replied.

"Err . . . we—I—had a time turner, and it fell and broke, and now we're here. I think we've traveled back about 21 years maybe? Teddy, you can do the math . . . "

"It's Wednesday, March fourth, if that helps." Said Mrs. Weasley, still not lowering her wand.

"Ha. It is Wednesday, my dudes. Ow, Teddy, that hurt!" James yelped, for Teddy had stomped hard on his foot.

"Now is not the time or place for vine references. This is serious!"

"You're right, this is serious." Kingsley interjected. "If this really is your story, you'll need to be able to prove it."

"What about veritaserum?" Roxanne asked.

"I have some, but I'd prefer not to use it, especially since you guys look underage and the legality of using it on you is questionable at best. It's simpler to run a few spells that can verify your story. _Personam Revelio!"_ A jet of white light burst from his wand and washed over them, changing Teddy's hair back to its natural sandy brown.

"That charm is to check that you aren't using charms or potions to alter your appearance. I'm assuming you either used a charm to turn your hair blue, or you're a metamorphagus."

"The second one." Teddy mumbled as he turned his hair back to blue.

"Anyway," Kingsley continued, "Remus here is performing another charm to verify that the substance coating you all is time turner sand."

"It is." Remus replied. "They've traveled back 21 years. It checks out magically."

"Well, I believe some introductions are in order." Said Mrs. Weasley. "Do you know us all in the future?"

"Yes, some of you very well." Said James, looking pointedly at Ginny. "Kingsley's minister of magic in our time!"

"Since you know us, but we don't know you, why don't you introduce yourselves." Said George.

"Right then. I am the one and only James Sirius Potter, son of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley, proud member of Gryffindor house, chaser for the house team, rising fifth year, and proud member of the second generation of marauders." He finished with a low bow.

"You've got to stop introducing yourself like this, James." Said Teddy. "This is why no one wants to go anywhere in public with you."

"You're my son?" Asked Ginny.

"Harry Potter banged our sister!" The twins yelled at the same time.

"The second generation of marauders?" Said Remus.

"Yes indeed! I nicked the map from my dad's desk when I was eleven, and now we're keeping your legacy alive!"

"I'll bet McGonagall loves you."

"She cried when she found out what my name was, and it wasn't from happiness." Said James proudly.

"Wait, wait, hold the phone." Said George. "You're a marauder?"

"Yes." Said Remus. "I was Moony. Sirius was Padfoot. James Potter was Prongs."

"Harry certainly never told us this." Fred muttered darkly.

"Why don't we move on." Said Kingsley, before the twins could elaborate on what their next encounter with Harry would involve. "Who'd like to introduce themselves next?"

"All right then. I'm Teddy Lupin. I'm 21, I was in Hufflepuff (Go Badgers!) and I was head boy my seventh year. I was keeping an eye on this lot while their parents were out when James and Fred stole a time turner from Uncle Harry's office and got us stuck here."

Remus was staring at Teddy with with an odd expression on his face. Suddenly he ran forward and wrapped Teddy in a tight hug. "Look at you." He whispered. "My son, all grown up. We survived. We're gonna be okay." He stepped back a little and looked Teddy up and down. "Are you a werewolf?"

"No, I'm not. I do get a little irritable around the full moon, though."

"A _little_ irritable? James yelled indignantly, trying to hide the quaver in his voice. "You nearly killed me one time!"

"You ate all my chocolate. That sort of behavior is unacceptable!"

"We call it his time of the month." James turned to Remus, laughing hysterically.

"Your grandfather referred to it as my furry little problem." Said Remus. "They all thought it was hilarious. Teddy, I'm going to run home and tell your mother the news. I'm sure she'll want to come and meet you." He bustled away and disapparated.

James, Fred, and Roxy looked to Teddy, silently agreeing not tell anyone of Remus's fate, at least not just yet.

"While he's gone, why don't you two introduce yourselves." Said Mrs. Weasley brightly, looking toward Fred and Roxanne.

"Riiiiiight." Said Roxanne. "Well, my name's Roxanne Weasley, I'm also going into fifth year, Gryffindor, I'm a beater on the house team, I help James prank people . . . that's about it" She trailed off.

"Who're your parents?" George asked.

"Well, err, you, and Angelina Johnson."

"Angelina?" **Fred** sputtered. **(older Fred will be referred to in bold)** "George, you girlfriend-stealer!"

"You were never really dating her anyway!" Said George. "She must prefer the lopsided look." He tapped the hole where his ear had been.

"Anyway." Roxanne broke in, "This is my twin brother, Freddie." She grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him forward.

"Um, yeah, I'm Fred, I'm fifteen, prankster extraordinaire, play beater with Roxy . . ."

"Why is his name Fred?" Mrs. Weasley cut in sharply. "And why do you two look like you've just been caught robbing a bank?"

Roxanne felt that confessing a bank robbery would be easier than explaining the origins of her brother's name. She locked eyes with her brother for a moment, and an unsaid understanding passed between them. She would be the one to tell them. She stepped forward. "I'm sorry, Uncle **Fred**." She said, dropping her gaze.

"I die, don't I?" Said **Fred. "** That's why your brother's named after me."

Mrs. Weasley wailed and ran to Fred, wrapping him in a bone-crushing hug and sobbing into his chest. George and Ginny followed suit.

"How did I go out?" He called to Roxanne over all the crying.

"Bravely. There was a big battle at Hogwarts, and the corridor you were fighting in exploded. Ron and Percy were standing by your side."

"Percy, eh?"

"Yes, you were the first one to welcome him back. He was the last one to make you laugh."

"Let me get this straight. I go down fighting to help defeat voldy."

Roxanne nodded.

"That's all I need." He said, and pulled her into the group hug. Then he turned to George. "Hey, Gerogie, I know I'm dead and all, but you still owe me ten galleons." George laughed despite his tears and handed over a fistful.

"We had a bet on whether or not Harry and Ginny would end up together." Said Fred, seeing the bemused look on Roxanne's face.

"Look, I hate to break this up, but we've got an actual problem here." Said Teddy. "There were thirteen of us when the time turner exploded, but there's only four of us here."

"Do you think the others may have landed in a different time?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"That's what I'm worried about." He grimly replied.

"Why don't you try calling Victoire and see if you can get through?" Asked James. "And I'll try calling Al." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and tapped the number labeled "Little Twat" in his contacts. The Weasleys stared curiously as his phone started vibrating. "It's called a cell phone. They were invented by muggles, but now wizards use them, too. You can talk to anyone, anywhere."

"Wait til Dad finds out about those." Said Ginny.

"We get him the latest model every year for his birthday." Said James. "He loves it. He's got all the hot muggle apps, too. C'mon, Al, pick up." He added, tapping the screen. "Fine. Let it go to voicemail. Al, this isn't funny. If you're there, please answer your stupid phone. We're trapped in 1998 at Auntie Muriel's place. If you could please get an adult, preferably Dad, that would be fantastic." He turned to the others. "Al's my little brother. I told him to get help, but he's not answering his phone."

"I got through to Victoire." Teddy said as he hung up his phone. "She, Dominique, and Louis are in the same time as us, but they ended up at Shell Cottage. And no, there's no word on the others. I told her it was probably safest to come here, because there's several order members here."

"A wise decision." Said Mrs. Weasley. "You may already know this, but it's extremely dangerous right now, with you-know-who and everything. Any time travelers will be safe here. Tell you what, I should fix some dinner for all of you, make you comfortable." As she finished speaking, there was a faint pop and Bill and Fleur appeared, with three teenagers standing between them.

"Teddy!" Victoire dashed across the room into his arms. "Hey, Vic." He replied and kissed the top of her head. "How've you been?"

"We actually got on pretty well, surprisingly. We ended up at our house, nothing involving the dark lord or anything like that."

"Wait, wait, who are you three?" Said Mrs. Weasley, bustling forward to meet them.

Bill turned to her, beaming. "They're our children from the future. Victoire, Dominique, and Louis." Mrs. Weasley smiled and hugged them all, sobbing about having grandchildren and how grown-up and wonderful they all looked. Victoire hugged back, but she had an odd expression on her face. Suddenly she gasped. "Teddy!" She said again. "Dom, Louis, and I all ended up back home, with our parents. You all ended up here. I see Uncle George and Aunt Ginny, and I'm assuming one of your parents is here somewhere."

"He left a few minutes ago." Said Teddy.

"We each ended up with our parents." She said, to the general shock of everyone in the room.

"Molly and Lucy—Merlin only knows where they are!" Said Dominique, looking horrified.

"Al and Lily! And Rose and Hugo!" Said James, who had gone very white. "They're—they're on the run!"


	4. Chapter 4

Albus fell hard on the cold ground. He slowly sat up, vaguely aware of Rose next to him and Lilly and Hugo further away. He had enough time to take in the surrounding woods and hear what sounded like Hugo coughing up sand before a frantic voice yelled, "Stupefy!" And all went dark.

Hermione burst out of the tent and frantically fired off a stunner for each intruder, Harry and Ron at her heels. "How did they find us?!" She shrieked. "How? I put up all our safety wards! No one should be able to penetrate these spells!" She flicked her wand and heavy ropes appeared, binding all four of them.

"Slow down, 'Mione." Said Ron. "They're just children. Blimey, Harry, this one looks just like you."

"Must be a coincidence." Said Harry uneasily. He walked over to his almost-clone and slid the wand from his pocket, then moved to check the others. "The small ones haven't got wands. They must be too young, and they can't be much of a threat.

"Still, you can never be too careful." Hermione lifted her wand and levitated their bodies into the tent, then lashed them securely to four chairs with another spell. "I want to interrogate them."

"They're just children!" Ron protested. "They probably just wandered inside our protective spells by accident!"

Hermione wasn't listening. "Harry, get me the veritaserum, it should be in the bag next to the bubotuber pus."

"You have veritaserum?"

"I nicked some from Ron's dad before we left, just in case. Which one should we interrogate first?"

"I say we do the Harry clone." Ron replied.

Hermione stepped in front of him and pointed her wand in his face. "Ennervate." His eyes—green ones, Harry noticed—flew open; the child stared around the tent like a caged animal. "Who—what—how—"

"Look, it's all right. I'm just going to give you some veritaserum." Said Hermione.

"Yes, it's ok, I'm just going to drug you." Ron snorted behind her.

Ignoring him, Hermione opened the bottle, tilted the boy's head back, and poured some in his mouth. His eyes went slack and unfocused.

"Please state your full name." Hermione said calmly.

"Albus Severus Potter."

Harry choked on his pumpkin juice. "Albus what? Why is he named after Snape?!"

"Dumbledore trusted him, Harry."

"Dumbledore also enjoyed knitting patterns out of muggle magazines, Hermione!"

Hermione turned back to Albus. "Why is your middle name Severus?"

"My dad said it was because Snape was the bravest man he knew."

"And who is your dad, a mental patient?" Asked Ron.

"No, he's Harry Potter."

That shut Ron up.

"Please state your date of birth." Hermione continued calmly.

"June 9, 2006."

"That's not possible. It's 1998. How is it possible?"

"My brother, James, had a time turner that he stole from Dad's office. He dropped it and it broke, and we ended up here." Suddenly there was a loud vibrating sound.

"It's coming from his back pocket!" Ron cried.

Hermione reached into Albus's pocket and pulled out a small, flat object none of them recognized. She nearly dropped it when a voice started emanating from it. "Al, this isn't funny. If you're there, please answer your stupid phone. We're trapped in 1998 at Auntie Muriel's place. If you could please get an adult, preferably Dad, that would be fantastic."

"That's James!" Said Albus, the veritaserum clearly wearing off. "Look, you've gotten proof, can you please let me go now?"

"Not yet!" Said Hermione. "I have a few more questions. Who's the girl sitting next to you?"

"My cousin Rose."

"And the boy next to her?"

"My cousin Hugo."

"And the girl on the end?"

"My sister Lily."

"And who's your mother?"

"Ginny Potter, but you know her as Ginny Weasley."

This time it was Ron who choked on his pumpkin juice. "Harry—and-and—my sister! Three kids! Merlin's pants, Harry you—you had sex with . . ." He trailed off, seemingly unable to finish the thought.

"If you don't like that news, you're in for a much greater shock, Uncle Ron." Laughed Albus. "Just ennervate the girl next to me and ask her a few questions."

Hermione moved towards the older girl, casting a sideways glance at Ron. She had a guess as to who this girl's parents were, what with the wavy ginger hair, the ratty Chudley Cannons T-shirt, and a large book tucked under her arm. Hermione's guesses were rarely wrong. "Ennervate!"

The girl's head snapped up and she quickly took in her surroundings. "Please state your name." Said Hermione.

The girl smiled and said, "Rose Granger-Weasley."

Ron fainted.

By the time they managed to revive Ron, the younger two children were exploring the tent and Rose was loudly describing the time turner incident and making wild gestures with the large album in her hands. "And then the time turner broke and spilled sand everywhere, and I told James off for getting sand all over the album, and then we ended up here!"

"Now that Ron's awake," Said Harry, "Why don't you all tell us a bit about yourselves? Who'd like to go first?"

"I would." Said Rose. "I'm going to be a third year in the fall, I'm in Gryffindor, I'm going to try out for the quidditch team but I don't know if I'll make it because there's lots of older students who play, and I'm also taking lots of classes next and Professor McGonagall might even give me my very own time turner."

"You are such a mix of both your parents, it's actually quite scary." Said Harry.

"That's what everyone says." Said Rose, looking slightly annoyed.

Hermione smiled warmly at her daughter. "If you're finished, Rose, why doesn't Albus introduce himself next."

"Why are you named after Snape?" Harry asked immediately.

"You said it was because Snape was the bravest man you ever knew. I think it had something to do with him being a double agent and somehow protecting you at Hogwarts, but I don't know the exact details."

"I bet Ginny loved that." Said Ron, who seemed to be warming up to the idea of Harry and Ginny being married.

"I've been told she made Dad sleep on the couch for a week after he decided to name me that." Albus replied.

"Your middle name aside, what else should we know about you?" Said Hermione.

"I'm same year as Rose, also in Gryffindor, my best friends are her and Scorpius, and so far my favorite class is herbology."

"What about quidditch?" Asked Ron.

"I like it okay, but I don't know if I want to play on the house team."

"Harry and Ginny's son doesn't want to play on the quidditch team?" Ron asked incredulously. "Harry, you might need a paternity test."

"It's just that quidditch causes many injuries, takes up lots of time, and Sam Wood's captain and he's absolutely insane!" Albus replied.

"Definitely gonna need a paternity test."

"Anyway, Lily why don't you introduce yourself." Said Albus hurriedly, hoping to avoid more quidditch talk. His phone started ringing again and he disappeared into the back of the tent.

Lily came over and sat down at the little table. "I am Lily Luna Potter and I am your youngest and best child. I start at Hogwarts in fall and I'm hoping to be in Gryffindor. Hugo, you go next."

The boy who could almost be Ron's clone came over and sat down next to Lily. "I'm Hugo Granger-Weasley, Rose's brother. I'm also starting at Hogwarts this fall."

"Hugo, I have a question for you." Said Harry. "How did your parents get together?"

"I've been told that Mum made the first move, at the battle of Hogwarts. Dad said that you'd forgotten about the house-elves down in the kitchens, and then Mum dropped all the basilisk fangs she was holding and kissed him."

"Why was I holding basilisk fangs?" Hermione asked.

"To destroy horcruxes with."

"Harry, Ron, we gotta go to Hogwarts and get some basilisk fangs!" Hermione cried.

"No! You don't gotta go to Hogwarts! There's literal death eaters working there!" Said Rose.

"And how is that any different from our other years, honestly?" Said Harry. "There was Quirrell, there was Umbridge, there was Barty Crouch as Moody . . ."

"I don't suppose you could tell us what the other horcuxes are or how they got destroyed." Said Ron.

"We shouldn't, it might reveal too much of the future." Said Rose.

"But Professor Longbottom killed voldy's snake!" Said Lily.

"Neville? He's a professor?" Said Hermione.

"Herbology professor. He's the best; literally everyone's favorite subject is herbology now." Rose replied.

"Hey guys. Guys!" Albus had hung up his phone and was evidently bursting with news. "James said that Victoire said that we all ended up with a parent, and that we need to go to Auntie Muriel's so they can get to the bottom of it!"

"James—what?" Said Hermione.

Albus took a deep breath. "He said we should go to Auntie Muriel's because it's a safe house under the fidelius charm, and that the order will figure it out."

"Sounds like a plan." Said Hermione. "Harry, Ron, help me pack the tent up."

While they packed up, Harry took out the invisibility cloak and threw it over the children, still reeling with the revelation that they were actually his, that they had survived, and that the great evil in their world was gone. As he took a firm hold of Al and Lily to apparate, he realized that they truly did have something worth fighting for.


	5. Chapter 5

Molly Weasley began whipping up a delicious supper as her grandchildren spread out around the house. James, Fred, and Louis were talking to **Fred,** George, and Lee while Dominique, Roxanne, and Teddy talked to Kingsley about their unfortunate situation. Victoire was sitting at the kitchen table, scratching away with a quill and muttering to herself.

"What are you working on, dear?" Asked Mrs. Weasley.

"I'm trying to figure out where everyone might have ended up." Victoria replied. "Albus, Lily, Rose, and Hugo are on the run with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. James was able to call them and they should be coming soon."

"I wish I could give you more information about those three, but I haven't seen them since August." Said Mrs. Weasley sadly.

"Well, they should be on their way." Said Victoire. "Do you know anything about where Percy might be?"

Mrs. Weasley sighed and shook her head. "We haven't spoken since last Christmas. I do know that he has a flat somewhere in London. Does he have kids, in the future?"

"Two daughters." Victoire replied. "They're probably at that flat, then. I should try calling Lucy. Actually no, I'm not worried about Lucy because she's level-headed and competent. We should really be worried about Molly, since she's younger and much more naive."

Mrs. Weasley gasped. "He has a daughter named Molly?" Victoire nodded. "Oh, Percy." She whispered, tears streaming down her face. Victoire hugged her grandmother tightly and was about to say more when they heard loud voices coming from the living room.

They both jumped to their feet and ran to the living room, where they saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione, all looking tired and rather shell-shocked. Harry was tightly clutching a boy who looked just like him and a small girl with red hair. Hermione had a red-haired boy and was clutching her little beaded bag for dear life. Ron had a another red-haired girl who held a large book under her arm.

James broke away from Lee and the twins and ran toward them. "Al! Lily! Are you guys okay?" Ginny followed him, curiously eying Al and Lily.

"You must be Al, Lily, Rose, and Hugo." Said Mrs. Weasley kindly, hoping to ease the frightened looks on the children's faces. "I think some introductions are in order."

"Oh, um, these two are ours." Said Ron, indicating Rose and Hugo as well as himself and Hermione. There was silence for a moment, then—

"Ha!" George yelled loudly. "Now you owe me ten galleons!" **Fred** sighed and handed over a handful of coins.

"Do you two just bet on everyone's lives around here?" Said Mrs. Weasley crossly.

"Not everyone's." Said George quickly. "Just Ron and Hermione's." **Fred** added.

Mrs. Weasley turned back to the new arrivals. "And you three are Harry and Ginny's." She said.

"Wait, you have another kid?" Said Ron loudly. "You did it three times with her?"

"Is there a problem with that?" Said Ginny, advancing threateningly on Ron.

"Look, I was working on dinner!" Said Mrs. Weasley, hurriedly stepping between them. "Why don't we all just calm down, since all these events are far in the future anyways!"

At that moment, Mr. Weasley stepped out of the fireplace in a whirl of green flames. "How is everyone?" He asked, putting his work bag down. The words died on his lips as he took in his whole family plus eleven extra people in the room. "Molly—who are they, what's going on?"

"It's all right, Arthur." She said, hurrying forward to brush some soot off his cloak. "They're from the future, they had an accident with a time turner."

"You can give us veritaserum if you don't believe us!" Said Roxanne cheekily.

"We're the next generation of Weasleys." Victoire added, seeing his confusion.

"Whoa, hey, we're Potters!" Said James. "But Weasleys by blood." He added.

"Those three are Bill and Fleur's, their names are Victoire, Dominique, and Louis. Those two, Fred and Roxanne, are George's, Rose and Hugo are Ron and Hermione's, and James, Albus, and Lily are Ginny and Harry's." Said Mrs. Weasley.

"Wow, I've got ten grandchildren!" Said Mr. Weasley, beaming at them all.

"No, there's twelve of us." Said Victoire. "Thirteen if you count Teddy Lupin, who's like a cousin to us."

"Twelve?" Said Mr. Weasley. "Who are we missing?"

"Uncle Percy's daughters. I'm gonna text Lucy right now, see where she's at." Said Victoire.

"It's all right." Said Dominique, noticing Mr. Weasley's dark expression. "He comes back. He's as much a part of the family as anyone."

"He does, then?" Said Mr. Weasley. "Well, won't it be nice to have the whole family back together." He faltered at the looks on their faces. "What?"

Mrs. Weasley ran into his arms and started sobbing. He looked towards Victoire and Dominique for help, but they seemed panic-stricken and could only jerk their heads toward **Fred**. As he looked from the twins to the younger boy named Fred, a horrible thought began to take shape. "No. Not Fred. Not my son, no!"

Bill and Fleur gasped; Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned pale with horror.

"He died during the battle of Hogwarts." Said Teddy softly. "I'm sorry."

"Th-they told me he died a hero." Sobbed Mrs. Weasley.

"Hey, it'll be all right." Said **Fred,** putting his arms around his parents. "That's the way I wanted to go out. Apparently there was a big explosion, so I literally went out with a bang!"

" **Fred** , now's not the time to make jokes." Said Mr. Weasley tearfully.

"They told me that Percy made a joke right before I died. I wouldn't've thought he had it in him." Said **Fred**. "But look, I haven't died yet. Why don't we all just drop it and go eat the dinner Mum's prepared?"

"Oh, all right." Said Mrs. Weasley, making a brave effort to smile. "But we'll have to do some spells to increase the quantity, since there's so many of us."

"Yeah, since both Ron and his son are here." Said George.

"Don't tease your brother!" Said Mrs. Weasley.

"And leave my son out of this!" Ron added.

"I was just teasing." Said George as the family trooped into the kitchen.


	6. Chapter 6

Lucy hung back James and Teddy grappled over the time turner, but when it shattered she too was swept away in the clouds of sand. When the sand finally stopped whirling, she was standing in the small kitchen of a dingy flat. She immediately took out her wand and began scanning her surroundings for something—anything—that might give a clue as to when and where she was. Her eyes fell on a copy of the Daily Prophet sitting on the table. The headline read, "Undesirable Number One: Where Is He Now?". The date at the top was March 4, 1998. Shaking, Lucy dropped the paper. This was far more serious than even James could have realized.

"Hello?"

Lucy whirled around, scrambling for her wand, only to find a much younger version of her mother standing in the doorway. People had always told Lucy she looked like her mother, except redheaded instead of blonde, but now the resemblance was far more obvious. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I could ask you the same thing." Audrey replied, also holding her wand.

"I—it's a long story. Isn't this Percy Weasley's flat? Why are you here?"

"I'm in hiding. After they started interrogating muggle-borns at the ministry, he told me I could hide here. I think he might have feelings for me." She added, blushing.

Lucy silently cursed herself for not remembering that her father had hidden her mother in his flat during the war.

"But what are you doing here?" Said Audrey. "If you were going to attack me, you would have done it by now."

"It's a long story." Said Lucy. "And I should put this away, I'm still underage." She hastily put her wand back in her pocket. "We had a little problem with a time-turner."

"But Harry Potter and his friends destroyed them when they broke into the ministry two years ago."

"In 2019 we have new prototypes. I think they were supposed to be more powerful. My dad told me about them, but no one outside the ministry is supposed to know yet."

"2019?" Said Audrey. "But that means you've gone back 21 years."

"I know. I thought Dad said the new time turners are only supposed to go back five years at most, but of course normal time turner rules go out the window when you drop the whole thing on the floor."

Audrey suddenly realized something. "You knew this was Percy Weasley's flat when you arrived, even though you're not even born yet in this time. Do you know him in the future? You do look like you could be a Weasley."

Lucy hesitated, trying to decide how to tell Audrey. "He's my father."

"Your father? I guess he did manage to find romance."

"That comes as a surprise to you?" Said Lucy.

"Given how emotionless he generally is, yes." Said Audrey. "I suppose that sounds rude, but it is true. Tell me, Lucy, who did he manage to seduce?"

Lucy smiled, tilting her head to one side. "You were a Ravenclaw in school. I think you can figure this one out. I'll give you one more hint: my full name is Lucy Carine Weasley."

Audrey's eyes shifted side to side as she puzzled it out, muttering something unintelligible under her breath. Suddenly her face turned white and she collapsed into the nearest chair. "Me! He married me!"

Lucy nodded.

"I thought you looked familiar," Audrey continued. "I guess the red hair threw me off. And your middle name's Carine, after my sister. And you knew I was in Ravenclaw, which you wouldn't know unless you're related to me." She stared up a Lucy for a long moment. "But we're just colleagues, with a slightly awkward living arrangement. How did we get into a relationship?"

"It was after the war." Lucy replied. "You sort of helped him deal with my Uncle Fred's death—he died during the war—and then it turned into romance."

"Fred Weasley?" Said Audrey. "We were in the same year at Hogwarts. He and his brother tried to test one of their Ton-Tongue Toffees on me at the end of sixth year. Oh God, the poor thing. I can't imagine what that was like for his family."

"My dad blamed himself, for a while." Said Lucy quietly. "He doesn't really talk about it much, but I think it weighed on him for a long time. I actually talked to Uncle Fred through the resurrection stone during my second year, and he told me to tell Dad to get over himself."

"The resurrection stone?" Said Audrey. "I thought that was a myth."

"So did everyone, but apparently Dumbledore gave it to Uncle Harry, and Uncle Harry left it in the Forbidden Forest at the end of the war. My cousin James found it when he was in detention, and then Roxanne told me about it."

"How many cousins do you have?" Asked Audrey.

"Too many. There's twelve of us Weasleys, thirteen if you count Teddy Lupin, who's our cousin in everything but blood. Then we've got three cousins on your side of the family."

"Teddy Lupin? Is he related to Remus Lupin?"

Lucy nodded.

"Professor Lupin was the best defense teacher we ever had." Said Audrey. "This is changing the subject, but when did Percy make up with his family?"

"There was this big battle at Hogwarts, and he came back to fight. He sort of accidentally ran into the whole family, and made up with them right then and there."

Audrey nodded. "I'm changing the subject again, but could you tell me a little bit about yourself?"

"I'm in Gryffindor, I'll be starting sixth year soon, I got twelve O.W.L.s, I'm a prefect and should be on track to become head girl next year if my stupid family doesn't completely wreck my reputation."

"What've your family done to hurt your reputation?"

"James, Fred, Roxanne, and Louis are the biggest trouble makers in the school and they're only a year below me, Dominique only cares about Quiditch, and I caught my own sister roller skating through the halls with her friends after curfew!"

"Wait, you have a sister?"

"Yes, her name's Molly and she's starting her second year. She's in Ravenclaw." Lucy felt her phone vibrating in her pocket and pulled it out. "Hold on, I have a text message from my cousin Victoire. She wants to know where I am."

"You have a what from who?" Said Audrey.

"A text message—it's a muggle way of contacting people." Lucy typed out a reply. "Okay, she and the others are at Auntie Muriel's house. She wants me to go there because it's heavily protected and there's responsible adults there."

"How are going to get there? We can't do unauthorized portkeys, and the ministry's watching the flow network."

"Can you take me through side-along apparition?"

"I can try, but I've never seen this place before." Said Audrey hesitantly.

"Here." Lucy quickly pulled up a picture on her phone of a few people standing in a stuffy-looking hall. "That's the entry hall of the house. Just picture that—it really hasn't changed since the war—and apparate us there."

"All right, I can try." Said Audrey. "Are you sure they'll let us in? This is a pretty unbelievable story."

"They can use veritaserum if they want. I also have this." She showed Audrey the copy of _Prefects Who Gained Power._ Percy's name was neatly written inside, but Lucy's was written below it in fresh scarlet ink. "He gave it to me when I became a prefect."

"Well, I guess we should go now." Audrey took Lucy's arm and closed her eyes, concentrating on the photgraph she'd seen. With a faint pop, the two of them vanished.


	7. Chapter 7

Molly Weasley found herself on a polished tile floor in a long hallway with a vaulted ceiling and inhabited by various pompous-looking wizards walking by with their arms full of important papers. She instantly knew where she was: her father's workplace, the ministry of magic. She quickly brushed herself off and ducked into a little alcove where she and Lucy had sometimes played in as children, then took stock of what she had with her.

She must've left her wand on the sodding coffee table at Uncle Harry's house. Not like it was any use to her, since she hardly knew any useful spells. All she had was her phone and a squashed pack of fruit snacks in the pockets of her hand-me-down shorts. Since neither of these were very useful, she set off down the hallway. It wasn't long before she spotted an office door that read:

Percy Ignatius Weasley, Junior Assistant to the Minister of Magic

But that wasn't right. He was head of his department for international magical cooperation. He hadn't been secretary to the minister since before she was born. Heart pounding, Molly yanked on the door, but it was locked. She slid a hairpin from the back of her head and twisted it in the lock the way Uncle George had taught her, and the lock sprang open.

Inside, it looked nothing like what she would have expected. It was so sparse, so plain. There were no family photos on the walls, just a small frame of her father standing with his first boss, Mr. Crouch. It was confirmation of what Molly had feared, that she'd gone back to the time when her father wasn't speaking to the rest of the family, and that Voldemort was almost certainly in power. She suddenly felt very conspicuous in her Holyhead Harpies shirt, the one that read _Potter_ on the back, and her faded denim shorts. She scrunched down into a corner, feeling that her safest option was to just wait for her father.

She didn't have to wait long. Barely five minutes later he swung through the door, saw her, shrieked in surprise, and dropped most of the papers he was carrying.

"Who are you?" He brandished his wand. "And what are you doing in my office?"

"Put that down, I'm not a threat. And shut the door."

To her surprise, he actually shut the door, but he didn't put his wand down. "How do I know you're not a threat?"

"I'm twelve. It's not like I can just stupefy you and be on my way. I don't even have my wand with me. Where would I hide it, in this outfit?"

Percy considered this for a moment. "Why are you even wearing that? It's March, you're going to freeze if you step outside."

"It's March? Can you tell me what year this is?"

Percy stared at her. "Look, I have a job to do. If you're breaking into my office just to screw with me, then we can show you the courtrooms where they're interrogating anyone who crosses the minister."

"I'm not lying!" Molly squeaked. "We dropped a time turner! My cousin stole one, then he dropped it, and then our whole horde of screaming Weasleys got sucked away! I'm not making this up! You can question me with veritaserum if you want!"

Percy stopped, his hand on the door knob. Screaming Weasleys. Time turner. There was something familiar about this girl that he couldn't quite place. She seemed to find him quite familiar, though, the way she'd yelled at him. He locked his office door with a flick of his wand, then pulled a tiny vial of veritaserum from his desk drawer. He handed it across the desk. "Drink this, and you'll be forced to tell the truth for exactly five minutes. If you try any funny business—"

"I'm not going to do anything, jeez." She grabbed the vial, uncorked it, and chugged its contents in one swallow. Her eyes unfocused and she stared back at him, waiting.

Percy gripped his wand tightly and asked his first question. "What was the date when you had the time turner?"

"July twelfth, 2019." He stared at her. Almost 21 years . . . he fought the urge to ask what the wizarding world was like in the future. The potion would wear off soon, and there were more important things to ask. "How did you come by the time turner?"

"My cousin James stole it out of Uncle Harry's office. It was a new prototype. Uncle Harry's head of the Auror department, so he gets important things like this."

If Harry's son was this girl's cousin, then meant he'd married . . . Ginny? The thought of Ginny being married was unsettling. He shook it off and continued questioning the girl. "What is your name? Full name, mind you."

"My name is Molly Ann Weasley."

Percy felt a small smile creep onto his face as he wondered which of his brothers had decided to name a daughter after their mother. "Who are your parents?"

"Percy Weasley and Audrey Langfeld Weasley."

Percy dropped his wand and staggered backwards, tripping and falling into his desk chair. This wasn't possible! That Audrey—kind, competent Audrey—had married him, they had a child. That someone loved him inspire of everything he'd done. That this girl was looking to him of all people for protection, for comfort. "How? That's impossible."

"Fraid so, Dad. You can't lie under veritaserum."

Looking closer at Molly, Percy finally understood why she'd seemed familiar. This girl looked just like him, with the same sharp features, softly curled red hair, freckles, and blue eyes. The only thing she didn't seem to have inherited from him was his bad eyesight. "I named you after my mother."

Molly nodded. "You said it was because you were sorry for everyhting you did to her. Apparently she cried a lot when I was born. I thought that made me special until Victoire told me that Grandmum cried when all of us were born."

Victoire . . . with a name like that, she couldn't be anything other than Bill and Fleur's daughter. Percy smiled; whatever rift he had caused in his family seemed to have closed. "How many cousins do you have?"

"There's twelve of us altogether. Family gatherings are always insane, but there's less of those now that we're all going to Hogwarts."

"What year are you in Hogwarts?" Percy asked.

"I'll be starting my second year in fall. I'm the second Weasley to be in Ravenclaw, after Victoire, but she's graduated. My best friends are Lila and Sam, but this year my favorite cousins Hugo and Lily are coming to Hogwarts, so it's going to be lots of fun."

"Please tell me you don't play Quidditch. I can't count the number of times Charlie or the twins ended up in the hospital wing with horrible injuries."

"No, I don't play Quidditch, and neither does my sister. Then again, Lucy would never touch a broom in a million years."

"Wait, you have a sister?" Said Percy, surprised.

"Yeah, her name's Lucy. She's sixth year, in Gryffindor. She's really mad that I'm in a different house, so she can't dock points if she doesn't like what I'm doing."

"She's a prefect?" Said Percy, beaming with pride.

"Yeah. Hey, you haven't seen her anywhere, have you? Or other confused people in summer clothes at the ministry?"

"No, I haven't." Said Percy. "I presume you weren't at the ministry when you had the time turner."

"No, we were at Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny's place."

Percy sighed. "If your cousins are nowhere to be found, then we may have entered into a rare and very dangerous phenomenon called time turner refraction. This occurs when a time turner is used incorrectly and its users are scattered through various times and places. Usually an accidental magic reversal squad can try to repair the situation, but that's not really an option right now. Do you have any way to contact your cousins?"

"I have my phone." Molly pulled it out of her pocket.

"A what?" Said Percy.

"A phone. Surely you've heard of them. Muggle devices for talking to people. Now we have wizarding versions that work in magical areas, since it's convenient."

"Dad had a bunch of muggle fellytones in his shed that Mum never knew about. Let me guess, he has one of these new fellytone things."

"We get him the latest model every year for his birthday. He's got all the popular apps and likes to snapchat us during class."

Having not understood most of the words Molly had just said, Percy chose to ignore this. "Can you use that thing to talk to one of your cousins and figure out what's going on?"

Molly turned it on and started typing. "I'm texting Victoire. She's the oldest, so she usually knows what's happening." She frowned and stared at the screen. "She said they're at Auntie Muriel's place. They all apparatus there. She wants me to go there because it's a safe house."

Percy took a deep breath in. He knew most of his family was likely hiding there, and he wasn't sure what they'd think if he waltzed in after two years of no contact, claiming this young girl was his daughter. But he had to swallow his pride and take her there for her own safety. It would be dangerous, but it also would be for the best. He sighed heavily. "All right. I'll take you there."

"Thank you." Molly ran and hugged him. He stood there for a moment, surprised, but then let himself relax into the hug. It felt nice. "Here." He said abruptly. "Take my cloak. It'll cover those ghastly muggle shorts and that ratty T-shirt."

"That's probably good, especially since the shirt says Potter on the back."

"Oh. Did Harry play for them?"

"No, Aunt Ginny. The Harpies are an all-girl team."

"But Ginny can't play Quidditch!"

"What do you mean she can't play Quidditch? She took your brooms out from the shed and practiced on them, played some chaser and seeker at Hogwarts, and signed a deal with the Harpies after she graduated."

"Wow." Percy muttered. "I really need to talk to her more often. Anyway, let me warn you: this might get a bit . . . interesting, talking to my family."

"This family's always interesting." Molly grumbled. They both left the office, pausing so Percy could lock the door.

"Try to look confident. Walk with purpose. If anyone asks, you're my cousin who's visiting me." He muttered out of the corner of his mouth as they walked towards the designated apparition point. Thankfully, they made it there without incident. He took her arm and they vanished, reappearing in the driving rain outside Muriel's front door.


	8. Chapter 8

**Warning: Some swearing in this chapter.**

The whole family was in the midst of dinner when they heard a quiet knock at the front door. All their faces swung toward the door as an uneasy silence fell.

"I'll get it." Said Bill, rising from the table.

"Don't go alone!" Mrs. Weasley gasped, looking panicked.

"We're on it." Said **Fred** as he and George got up from the table and followed Bill into the entrance hall. Bill opened the door to find an unfamiliar woman with blond hair and a red-haired teen staring back at them.

"Who are you?" Bill asked, pointing his wand in her face.

"My name is Audrey Langfeld, I know your brother. I'm on your side."

"Can you prove it?" Bill asked, silently wondering which brother it was she claimed to know.

"We can." Said George, stepping forward. "Which of our products did we test on you at the end of our fifth year?"

"A ton-tongue toffee." Audrey replied.

"And what did you do about it?"

"I reported it to Professor McGonagall and she gave you both detention. I also used a variety of hexes and jinxes on you both, and you never approached me again with any of your products."

"That's her, all right." Said **Fred.** "She was in our year at Hogwarts." He added, seeing Bill's confused expression. "But in Ravenclaw."

Bill nodded. "And who are you?" He asked the red-haired girl.

"I'm Lucy Weasley. I understand my cousins from the year 2019 are here."

"Can you prove you're from the future?" Bill asked.

"I talked to her, she's not lying." Said Audrey.

"I still want solid proof." Said Bill, but Lucy was already reaching into her purse.

"Here. Is this good enough for you?" She thrust a small book that Bill recognized as Percy's into his face. "Open it up and look inside the front cover." Bill took it and saw Percy's name written neatly in the corner. Below it, Lucy had written hers in similar neat script.

"That's definitely Percy's book." Said George. "But how did—"

He was cut off by the front door being thrown open. In strode Percy, clutching a pale, frightened-looking girl wrapped in an overlarge traveling cloak.

"What're you doing here?!" Fred and George yelled at the same time.

Bill pushed past the twins, took Percy by the shoulder, and pointed his wand straight into his brother's eyes. The small girl gasped in terror and ran to Lucy.

"What did I ask you about during Christmas break of your first year at Hogwarts? Answer me!" Bill said roughly.

"Bill, please don't make me answer that. Any other question, please!" Percy moaned.

"I never told anyone else about what you said. Just answer the question."

"You—you asked me for advice when you wanted to ask out a girl you fancied." Percy replied, going cross-eyed from staring at the wand.

"What did you tell me?"

"I—I t-told you that girls were strange creatures, and then I made a presentation for you on the prevalence and dangers of contracting genital herpes. I was eleven, shut up!" He added to the twins, who were trying to hide their laughter.

Bill released his hold on Percy and stepped back. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm not here by choice. I'm here because I need to get my daughter to safety."

Bill, **Fred** , and George all looked at Audrey, who was standing between the two girls.

"Would you know anything about her?" George asked, pointing to Audrey.

"She's one of my coworkers." Percy replied. "Or she was, until . . ." He trailed off. His face slowly turned pink as he stared at his future wife, flanked by their two daughters.

"What Percy means to say," Said Audrey, "Is that we're married in the future. These two are our daughters."

There was silence for a moment, then—"Wow, Percy has feelings." The twins said simultaneously.

Percy spluttered angrily and reached for his wand; Audrey grabbed his arm and threw him a disapproving look.

Bill sighed. He needed to get this situation under control. Percy was now arguing with the twins while Audrey held him back, the small girl was now sobbing into Lucy's cloak, and he could see Teddy and Victoire creeping down the hallway, no doubt attracted by all the noise.

"Stop it! Stop it all of you! This isn't helping!" Bill shouted, and to his surprise they all shut up and looked at him.

Victoire and Teddy stepped forward; Victoire put her arms around the still-sobbing girl.

"We need to fix this. Percy, Audrey. We were just sitting down to dinner. Do you want to come in?" Bill asked. The twins stared at him like he was insane.

"No." Said Percy. "No, we can't stay."

"What, you're ashamed of your own family?" Bill said, his voice dangerously soft.

"No, it's not that!" Said Percy frantically. "If we—"

"Couldn't be bothered to talk to your own family!" Bill said loudly. He hadn't meant to sound so rude, but months of pent-up anger were starting spill out. "Couldn't even be bothered to come to your own brother's wedding!"

"I know where I'm not wanted!" Percy shouted. "I wasn't going to crash your wedding, not after what happened the last time I talked to you lot!"

"What do you mean crash my wedding?" Said Bill. "We sent you an invitation."

The twins had turned pink and were staring at their feet. "We—well, we decided—" **Fred** sputtered.

"Spit it out." Said Bill coldly. Out of the corner of his eye he saw more family members creeping into the hallway.

"We took his invitation out of the stack." George muttered. "We thought it would be better if he didn't come."

"Merlin's saggy arse." Bill muttered. "Here I am, trying to mend this fucking family, and you fuckers go and steal his invitation! Do you have any idea how serious this is, how worried Mum's been since the whole family can't be together, terrified if something happened and we never knew?"

"No, we didn't realize how serious it was." **Fred** muttered, his face completely scarlet.

"This is why I didn't talk to you!" Percy screamed. "You all hate me! I try to talk to you and I leave the house with food thrown in my face!"

"Stop it!" Lucy screamed, inserting herself between her father and her uncles. "You're not helping anything by arguing! And you've gone and upset Molly!" She gestured to her sister, who was still sobbing.

Percy reached for Molly, but she shrank away from him and clutched Victoire very hard. His face fell.

"You've never shouted like that in front of her. Or any of us." Said Victoire.

Percy, his face a world of anguish, turned to Bill. "Obliviate me."

"Why?"

"We all need to be obliviated, eventually. When the time travelers leave. If anyone at the ministry finds out where you are, if they torture it out of me—" He didn't finish the sentence.

"Wait!" Mrs. Weasley ran forward, sobbing, and hugged Percy around the neck. "Don't leave me!"

"I have to, Mum. It's for the best." He hugged her back.

Bill raised his wand and pointed it at Percy and Audrey. "Obliviate." Blank looks came over their faces and they turned on the spot and vanished. An uncomfortable silence fell, broken only by Molly's pitiful sobs from the carpet.

"C-come on, dear." Victoire said quietly, helping her up from the floor. The others began slowly made their way back to the dining room, Mrs. Weasley hanging back and looking concernedly towards Victoire, Molly, and Lucy. Bill brought up the rear, periodically throwing dark looks at the twins.

"Are you all right?" Said Mrs. Weasley. She could have been speaking to any of them.

"We'll be all right. I think." Victoire looked doubtfully at Molly.

"We've never seen anyone in the family yell like that, except for you when James and Fred did—well, pretty much anything, really."

Mrs. Weasley nodded sadly and slipped an arm around her namesake.

"Dad told me some of what happened during the war." Said Lucy. "But I think he withheld a lot more from Molly cause she's so young. I don't know if she fully understands it all."

"I understand it fine." Molly mumbled, pushing the others away. "Dad hates us all."

"You know that's not true." Said Victoire. "He just . . . has different views."

They had reached the dining room door. Victoire opened it and followed Bill and the twins inside, but the others hung back. "There's a bathroom down the hall to the left." Said Mrs. Weasley. "If you need some time." No sooner had she finished saying this than Molly sprinted down the hall.

After their grandmother went back into the dining room, Lucy set off down the hall. She heard muffled voices from the dining room, no doubt Uncle Bill or maybe Victoire telling the others about them, the very last pieces in the set of Weasley grandchildren. She stopped outside a plain door with a strip of light at the bottom. Behind it, she heard Molly breathing rapidly. She rapped on the door. "Are you okay?"

"Go away!" Molly wailed from the other side.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not with you!" On a different occasion Lucy might have kicked down the door and started asking about it, but she held back. She knew she was better at facts and reason than empathy, especially when it came to her high-strung sister. "Look, Molly." She said. "I'm going in to the dining room now. Take all the time you need." She paused and added, "They were just stressed out because of the war. I'm sure they didn't mean what they said."

Molly waited until Lucy's footsteps receded, then took a damp rag and scrubbed the tear tracks from her face. She sat down on the floor, shivering slightly in the cool air. She'd never heard her Uncle Bill quite that mad before, except maybe the time when Dominique dared Louis to jump off one of the cliffs by Shell Cottage. As for her father . . . he'd never been that angry either. He was a gentle man. It reminded her of going to the memorial ceremonies for the Battle of Hogwarts when she was young, when tension hung between the members of the family and something unspoken hovered behind their eyes. It was like a ghost of the argument she'd just witnessed. But sitting in the bathroom until they could go back home wouldn't help. Shaking, she picked herself up off the floor and went into the dining room, wedging herself between Hugo and Lily.

No one spoke of what had happened in the entry hall. Instead they were listening to James' description of the Quidditch final last year. Lily gave her a small smile as she passed her a basket of rolls, and Hugo snuck her an extra cinnamon roll from the dessert platter. In Hugo's mind, all problems could be fixed with food. Bill's eyes caught hers from across the table, and her cocked his head slightly, a silent apology for the rage he'd displayed earlier. Molly smiled back, showing she accepted his apology. She turned back to the conversation, which had shifted to Professor Longbottom's classes, and dug into her Grandmother's delicious cooking.


	9. Chapter 9

It took Remus nearly a full hour to convince his heavily pregnant wife that no, he wasn't lying, yes, it really was their son from the future, and yes, that did require getting out of bed and putting on real clothes if she wanted to see him. When they were finally ready to leave, he wondered what he might see back at Muriel's place. Hopefully everyone was there safely and working on a solution to the problem. When he and Tonks appeared in Muriel's parlor, though, this scene greeted them:

Teddy was sitting on the couch making out with a blonde girl while a young boy who resembled Harry was yelling at them to get a room. Two young girls were telling **Fred** and George about new products at the joke shop, and a boy their age was playing chess with Ron. Roxanne, two other girls, and a blonde boy were talking to Mr. And Mrs. Weasley and Bill and Fleur. A girl who looked like a ginger Hermione was showing the latter a family album and Fred and James, who looked terribly bored, were sprawled on one of Muriel's fancy velvet sofas singing something about not throwing away one's shot.

"Hi everyone!" Tonks said brightly. All noise stopped and everyone turned to stare at the newcomers. As Teddy leapt up from the sofa to hug them, Remus had a confused impression of the Harry clone looking at him in horror as Victoire frantically shook her head. When their hug finally broke apart Tonks began exclaiming over Teddy as Remus looked back at the crowd. The younger children were all staring with open looks of shock and horror, the older ones with poorly concealed versions of the same looks.

Realization hit Remus like a large block of ice sinking into his stomach. "We're—we're dead, aren't we? Tonks and I?"

"What? No!" The Harry clone yelled, but his lie was obvious.

"Yes, you are. I'm sorry." Said Victoire.

"But—but who takes care of Teddy?" Tonks had gone very white and seemed to be gasping for air.

"Grandma Andy raised me, but you named Harry as my godfather and he was like a father to me." Said Teddy.

"Me?!" Said Harry in a strangled sort of voice. "But—but—I can barely keep myself alive!"

"You were brilliant at it." Said Teddy.

"Harry, I wouldn't have chosen you as godfather if I didn't think you could do it." Said Remus reassuringly.

"Oh Teddy, I didn't want to leave you an orphan." Tonks sobbed.

"It's okay Mum." Said Teddy.

"No it's not." She sobbed. "I can't leave you. You're my baby."

"Teddy." Said Remus. "Tell me you had a happy childhood. Tell me we didn't die in vain."

"Of course you didn't die in vain. My childhood was grand. Vic and I made mud pies as toddlers, I got to visit Uncle Charlie and the dragons in Romania, I taught James how to play Quidditch . . ."

"I guess I'm okay with dying if it means you had a safe childhood without the dork lord."

"The dork lord?"

"What he deserves to be called."

The three of them moved to the sofa, squeezing in between several kids from the future. Remus felt himself start to relax as he sank into the cushions. "Why don't you introduce yourselves?" He said. "I haven't met most of you, and Tonks hasn't met any of you."

They came forward one by one as Remus and listened, exclaimed, and absorbed. Ron and Hermione married—he'd seen that coming form a mile away. It had been obvious even when they were his students. And Harry—three kids and head of the Auror department! He vaguely remembered Audrey from his defense class and figured she was a good match for Percy. But the most surprising thing, he thought, was that the Burrow was apparently still standing in 2019, despite the action of all these rambunctious children.

"The real question," Said Remus after hearing all their stories, "Is why you didn't end up back at the Potter Manor. That's what should have happened. That's what a normal time turner would do."

"I actually have a theory about that." Rose piped up.

"Of course you do." Hugo grumbled.

"I think this was involved." Rose held up the family album, which she hadn't put down since before the time turner was dropped. "The sand spilled all over it when the time turner broke."

"Let me see that a minute." Said Mrs. Weasley. "Just as I thought. It's our copy of a _Familius Linearus."_

"A family linny-what?" Said Fred.

"It's a type of magical album that was popular many years ago. I see you've put more recent photos in it—" She flipped past a series of Teddy and Victoire's baby pictures. "But the concept remains the same."

"What does it do?" Asked Albus.

"It's meant to be a record of your family. With the right spells, you could use it to go to places where your family had been, or use it more like a pensieve, to view their memories. I think ours was a wedding present."

"But use it incorrectly with a time turner . . . nice going, James. It put us with our parents."

"We wouldn't be in this situation if you hadn't been holding the album!" James retorted.

"We wouldn't be in this situation if you hadn't had the damn time turner!" Rose shouted back.

"Stop it! You're not helping anything by arguing!" Albus said. "We all know James is a prat, but telling him so doesn't help."

"You're right." Said Rose.

"I think the best thing to do would be to contact one of your parents in 2019 and see if they can fix this." Said Kingsley. "Since the ministry in our time's no help."

"All right. Who wants to break potentially devastating news to them?" Said Dominique. There was a loud chorus of "Not me!" And "Why don't you do it."

"How bout James." Said Rose angrily, "Since he's the one who got us in this mess."

"No need." Said James, who had gone very white and was already staring at his phone. "Mum's already calling."


	10. Chapter 10

Harry and Ginny stepped out of the fireplace in a whirl of green flames. Ginny immediately sat down and yanked off her heels as Harry unbuttoned the neck of his too-tight dress shirt.

"Quite the rager, wasn't it?" Said Ginny.

"If by rager you mean four hours of dodging various reporters, then yes." Said Harry.

"I hope I'm not included in the list of reporters you dodged."

"Of course not, Gin. Hey kids, we're home!" He called.

No answer.

"We're home! Hello?"Ginny yelled a little louder.

"Maybe they went over to someone else's house." She said.

Harry looked over the living room, his Auror's eye for detail taking in a half-played game of Exploding Snap, a wand left on the coffee table, and a pair of sneakers he was fairly certain belonged to Roxanne, among other things.

"Why would they go somewhere without taking their wands? Or their shoes?"

"You know how kids are." Said Ginny, but she sounded uneasy as she said it. Suddenly she cried, "Harry! Harry! Come look at this!"

Harry saw her staring at a pile of fine sand, covering part of a couch and much of the floor. "Don't touch anything." He leaned over and saw tiny shards of glass mixed in with the sand. He felt his heart drop through his stomach as he realized what it was. He sprinted up the stairs to his office, finding the door ajar, and yanked open the drawer where he'd been keeping that new time turner. It was empty.

"Ginny!" He yelled, his voice hoarse. He jogged back down the stairs. "My time turner! They've taken my time turner!" He saw her turn pale and collapse into a nearby chair.

"They could be anywhere." She whispered. "This whole thing screams James." She said in a louder voice.

At that moment, Percy came whizzing out of their fireplace. "Harry, Ginny. Have you taken our children somewhere?" He said.

"The time turner. They took that new prototype I told you about. They're gone." Said Harry.

"No. No." Percy turned pale the way Ginny had and started hyperventilating.

"Percy!" Said Ginny. "Snap out of it!" She slapped him across the face. "Go tell the others what's happened, then get Kingsley and maybe the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad while you're at it!"

Percy nodded and disaparated.

"Harry . . ." Said Ginny. "If they went back to our teen years . . ." She didn't finish the thought.

"I hope they didn't." Harry moaned. "Please, please let them have gone back somewhere nice and quiet like the thirteenth century or something."

"I don't think you want them in the thirteenth century." Said Ginny.

"Why don't you try calling them?" Said Harry. "No self-respecting 21st century kid is going anywhere without their phone."

"You're right." Ginny pulled out her phone and called James. He answered after two rings.

"JAMES SIRIUS POTTER!" Ginny screamed, not even waiting for a hello. "HOW DARE YOU STEAL YOUR FATHER'S TIME TURNER AND USE IT FOR YOUR STUPID PRANKS! YOU COULD BE PUTTING YOURSELF OR YOUR COUSINS IN SERIOUS DANGER RIGHT NOW, AND WE'D BE NONE THE WISER! YOU'LL STAY IN YOUR ROOM UNTIL SCHOOL STARTS! OH! AND NO STUFF FROM GEROGE'S SHOP! AND WHEN YOU GET HOME I WILL BE PUTTING YOUR TRACKING CHARM BACK ON! DO YOU HEAR ME? YOU HAVEN'T HAD A TRACKING CHARM SINCE YOU WERE 11 YEARS OLD!"

"James, where are you?" Said Harry, struggling to wrench the phone out of Ginny's hands. "What year did you travel back to? Are you safe?"

"Yeah, we're fine." Said James. "All thirteen of us are at Auntie Muriel's. It' 1998."

Harry's heart nearly stopped. "1998? Are you serious?"

"No, I'm James Sirius." Harry heard several loud groans on the other end.

"James, you're in big trouble for this." Said Harry. "Do you realize how dangerous it is in 1998? There's a literal war going on."

"I wasn't trying to throw us into 1998!" James snapped irritably.

"Well what were you trying to do?" There was silence on the other end. "James?!"

"Stuff." James muttered.

"What kind of stuff?" Ginny said loudly. "James, if you were using that just for a laugh, you're in even bigger trouble! James? James?"

"He's hung up." Said Harry.

"Ooh, he's in so much trouble." Said Ginny. "Why must he behave like this?"

"He's related to a marauder as well as Fred and George, and the son of the guy who illegally flew a car to school at age twelve." Harry replied.

The rest of the Weasleys were starting to arrive, stepping out of the fireplace one by one. Fleur was sobbing and wailing in French and Bill, though not understanding her words, was rubbing her back and trying to calm her down. Angelina looked like she, too, wanted to pick up a phone and start yelling at her children. Percy, Audrey, and Hermione arrived with the Accidental Magic Reversal squad and Ron trailing behind them, looking horrified. Mr. And Mrs. Weasley were last to arrive, both looking concerned.

The head of the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, a man named Crosserly, bent over and examined the remains of the time turner. He waved his wand and conjured a string of caution tape, which hung in the air, creating a circle around the pile of sand. "No one touches this." He said. He turned to Harry. "Were there any other magical items involved? We need to know, so we can set up the proper device to return them."

Ginny had already taken out her phone and was calling, not James, but Al.

"Hi Mum." He said. "I wasn't involved in the time turner business, I swear."

"I'm not worried about that, but we need to know if there were other magical items involved in the incident."

"Well, we had our wands . . ." Said Al.

"The Familius Linearus!" Shrieked a voice that sounded like Rose. There was a short scuffle on the other end and then Rose's voice again, louder and clearer. "The _Familius Linearus!_ The sand spilled all over it! Ask Grandmum, she knows what it is!"

"A _Familius Linearus_. Mum, do you know anything about that?" Said Ginny.

"I remember now." Said Mrs. Weasley. "Rose asked if she could borrow it the last time she was over. It's an old type of photo album that was popular years ago. The original intent was that you could use it in conjunction with other spells to visit places photographed in the album or view thoughts and memories like a penseive."

Crosserly sighed. "Well, this certainly complicates matters. We may have to change some of the spells to create a stable mechanism. We need to be able transport all thirteen kids, plus a few of us, safely across the 21-year gap. This may take a few days."

"How soon can you get it ready?" Asked Harry.

"We'll do our best, but no promises." Said Crosserly. "Granger-Weasley, I need your brains for this operation. And Weasley—"

"Yes?" Said many people at once.

Crosserly groaned. "Molly Weasley. I need you to compile as much info on your family's _Familius Linearus_ as you can." They slipped away to exchange ideas, leaving the rest of the family in the Potters' living room.

"Well, I guess they'll be stuck at Muriel's for a few days." Said Bill.

"They should be fine. Muriel's going to hate them, but they should be safe." Said Mr. Weasley.

"We need to tell them not to say the name!" Said Ron, suddenly remembering. "That's how they caught us! And they use his name flippantly."

"They also call him Voldy, U-no-poo, and the dork lord." Said George. "I think they'll be fine."

"Still, we should call them and tell them about the situation." Said Angelina.

Ron was already calling. A blurry FaceTime picture popped up on the screen of Rose's face, swooping dizzyingly as she moved her phone.

"We're fine, Dad, really. How long until they can get us back?"

"They said it will be several days, until they can get the proper magical devices in place to safely transport you back."

"Great. A whole week stuck here with these weirdos." This was Hugo, who was attempting to force his way into the frame.

"We'll be fine." Said Rose again as she elbowed her brother away from the camera.

"But you can't say the dark lord's name." Said Ron. "Remember what I told you, about how they jinxed it to track anyone who said it during the war?"

"Of course I—Hugo, stop hitting me!—of course I remember what you told me. We'll just stick to calling him the dork lord."

The other Weasleys from the past were starting to crowd around the camera; Ron saw younger versions of Ginny, the twins, and his parents looking curiously toward it.

"We'll take care of them, don't you worry about a thing." Mrs. Weasley called. "Oh, Ronnie, you look so grown-up." She added, taking the phone from Rose. "The kids'll be safe until you can come and get them." There was a loud thump from offscreen.

"Watch out for my son, he's trouble." This was Ginny, who was looking over Ron's shoulder.

"I know how to handle troublesome boys." Said Mrs. Weasley. "Well, I'm going to let you go now, so you can work on getting them back." The screen went dark.


	11. Chapter 11

"Well this is a fun time." Said James. He was standing in the bedroom at Auntie Muriel's that he was going to be sharing with Louis and Fred.

All up and down the hallway various sounds echoed from other rooms, where their cousins were going to spend the night. Teddy could be heard on the other side of the wall, in the twins' room, helping to set up air mattresses for Albus and Hugo. (No one thought it would be a good idea for James and Fred to share with the twins). From the other wall came noises that sounded suspiciously like Lily and Molly jumping on the dusty old beds in their room. Across the way, Ginny was helping Rose and Roxanne to settle in, since they'd be sharing with her. And further away Victoire, Dominique, and Lucy were arguing about who got the real bed and who got the fold-out sofa.

"You guys all right in here? All ready for bed?" Mrs. Weasley, carrying a tray laden with warm drinks. "Comfortable? You need anything?"

"I think we're good." Said Fred, plucking at the shirt he was wearing. Mrs. Weasley had used a spell to make identical copies of Ron's pajamas, and the boys all looked vaguely uncomfortable in their matching outfits.

"Well, don't stay up too late." She said. At that moment Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked by. "Harry, Ron, Hermione, let's get you set up in a room."

"No." Said Harry. "I'm sorry, we can't stay."

"Please, just one night. You'll be safe here."

"No we can't. Dumbledore—"

"Dumbledore left me a laundry list." Said Lily in a high-pitched, mocking imitation of Harry's voice. "So therefore no one is allowed to answer my questions or help me out except for Ron and Hermione, without whom I'd be dead." She paraded before them in a ridiculously long, frilly nightgown she'd found in an old wardrobe. Harry watched her curiously, wondering how much of his story he'd told her.

"She's got a point you know." Said Ron. "Would it be so terrible for us to spend one night in a real house?"

The look on Harry's face silenced him. "We can't stay, it's me they're after." Said Harry.

"Okay, okay, we'll go find a new place to camp if that's what you want to do." Said Hermione. "And we'll need someone to obliviate us, since we can't have anyone find out and we shouldn't know about our children before they're born."

"I can do it for you." Said Mrs. Weasley, looking resigned.

"Bye Mum, bye Dad." This was Hugo, running up to hug them both.

"Bye Hugo." Said Hermione. "See you in twenty-one years." She stepped back between Ron and Harry. Mrs. Weasley cast the memory charm and blank looks washed over their faces before they turned on the spot and disappeared.

"Can I just say, Uncle Harry is more angsty than anyone ever told me he was." Said Rose, who had come out of Ginny's room to witness the drama.

"He's always been a little angsty." Said Mrs. Weasley distractedly. "It's late, you guys should get to bed.

The whole family was awakened unceremoniously the next morning by a muffled _boom!_ from the bathroom and a loud shriek. Everyone was out of their beds in an instant, a confused jumble of bodies, wands, pajamas, and tangled blankets. Ginny emerged from the grimy little bathroom, covered in a purple, glittery substance.

" **Fred**! George! What did you do?" Mrs. Weasley screamed.

"It wasn't us." Said George. Mrs. Weasley was about to press for more information, but saw from the looks in their eyes that they were telling the truth. Her eyes passed over them and fell on James, Fred, and Roxanne, who looked like they were trying to hide their laughter.

"You three! What did _you_ do?"

"OMG it actually worked." Said Roxanne as she started giggling.

"It was a little creation of ours." Said James. "You've heard of muggle bath bombs?"

"No."

"Well we decided to take that concept and apply it a little more literally."

"I'm sorry, but what the heck is a bath bomb? It sounds horrible." Said Ginny.

"It's a muggle thing." Said Roxanne. "They're these things you can drop in your bath and they fizz and smell nice. Like James said, we applied the name literally and created these prank bath bombs that actually explode when they touch water. You just met our Purple Glitterfest bomb."

"No kidding." Said Ginny. "What is that awful smell?"

"That would be the stinksap." Said Fred.

"They're always trying to make new products for the shop." Said Albus, pinching the bridge of his nose. "We never get a moment's peace."

"What is this?" Said a new voice. Muriel was standing at the end of the hall in a pink satin dressing gown, looking absolutely furious at all the commotion. "I open my home to you and this is how you repay me!"

"I'm sorry Muriel." Said Mrs. Weasley. "It was just another prank. We've got it under control."

"Yeah, it's fine. Go back to your skulking." Said George flippantly.

"I'll get you for that and I'll get you for still operating that blasted owl-order business out of my back room." Said Muriel angrily, but she turned and walked away.

"Good to know the old bat hasn't changed." Said Louis.

"Don't tell me she's still alive in 2019!" **Fred** moaned. "But I'm dead in 2019, so I don't have to see her."

" **Fred** , don't say that!" Mrs. Weasley moaned. "And don't talk about your Auntie Muriel that way." She walked away in a huff to go make breakfast.

"I guess we need to clean this up." James grumbled, looking at the goo-covered bathroom walls. "Victoire, you can do magic outside of school. Could you scourgify the bathroom for us?"

"Heck no. I'll do it for Aunt Ginny, but the bathroom is on you. I'm thinking some non-magic elbow grease scrubbing is in order." She flicked her wand and the goo covering Ginny disappeared. With another flick of her wand, a mop and several cleaning rags appeared. "Get busy."

"And I'll go use the bathroom downstairs." Said Ginny angrily.

"But do be careful." Said James.

"We might have done something to it." Said Fred.

"That something might have been the Green As A Fresh Pickled Toad Glitter Bomb." Roxanne finished.

"I'll get you for this!" Ginny howled as she ran down the stairs, her face as red as her hair.

"We don't have to clean this bathroom, like, now, do we?" Asked Roxanne.

"Probably not till after breakfast. Heck, I can smell the sausages already." Said James.

Downstairs, Mrs. Weasley had prepared a simply massive breakfast. Every surface was covered in plates of sausages, scrambled eggs, pancakes, a jug of maple syrup, and several bowls of fruit. Knowing she was cooking for a horde of hungry teenagers in addition to her usual family, she had not held back at all when it came to portion sizes. The next several minutes were a flurry of activity, pushing, shoving, piling food on plates, and scrambling for seats at the dining table. James found himself next to Lily, who was telling their Grandfather all about muggle bath bombs and face masks while he took copious notes.

"So, you three." Said Mrs. Weasley, squeezing in between Teddy and Louis. "We've decided that an appropriate punishment for the bath bomb prank will be you serving Auntie Muriel as her personal assistants for the day."

James's mouth fell open in horror. Nothing, _nothing_ , could be worse than this.

"What?" Fred shrieked. "Isn't there a garden we can de-gnome or something?"

"No, Muriel suggested it and I obliged because she's very mad about having so many people in her house." Said Mrs. Weasley.

"How bout we just clean the bathroom all day instead." James grumbled.

After breakfast they trooped upstairs with their mop and cleaning rags and began scrubbing the purple glitter mixture off the walls. It was much stickier and harder to clean off than they'd anticipated.

"Should've left the essence of Wolfsbane out of the formula." James grumbled as he scrubbed at a particularly stubborn patch of goop.

"I think it's actually the stinksap that's making it so sticky." Said Roxanne. "And we can't leave that out of the formula because it gives the distinctive scent."

"See, this is why I usually don't do stupid shit with you guys." Said Louis as he walked by. "The aftermath is much nicer for me."

"You don't do pranks because you're too busy sucking face in the dungeons." Said James nastily.

"For the last time, we were in Flitwick's supply cupboard, not the dungeons. Whatever. I notice they're not making any of us prefects this year."

"Nah. Probably went to Jake. Probably Alice too." Said James, turning slightly pink as he said it.

"You still gonna try and ask her to a Hogsmeade weekend?" Said Fred, winking.

"Yes, I am." Said James defensively. "Maybe this year'll be the year she finally says yes."

"Maybe it'll be the year Professor Longbottom stops giving you detention for harassing his daughter." Said Fred.

"For the record, I was not harassing her. I merely asked her several times to make sure she really didn't want to go."

"If Alice goes out with James this year, then I'm a Hufflepuff." Said Roxanne.

"Ahem." Said a cold voice. They whipped around and saw Auntie Muriel in the doorway. "I believe I have three personal assistants for the day." She jerked her head toward the hallway.

"The bathroom!" Said Fred wildly. "We're not finished!"

"You are now." Muriel flicked her wand and the remaining goo disappeared. "Follow me."

"Good luck." Said Louis.

James gulped. "Merlin's pants, this is worse than History of Magic." He followed her up another flight of stairs, feeling that he was walking into the mouth of hell.


	12. Chapter 12

"Frederick—"

"My name's Fred."

"Don't be impertinent to me, Frederick. Fetch me the small boxes from the bottom left side of that cabinet."

Fred stooped and pulled a set of small velvet boxes from a low shelf in the cabinet. They'd been stuck tailing Auntie Muriel for most of the day now, and she'd forced them fluff her feathered hats, polish her ugly shoes, and dust a whole army's worth of knick-knacks, all without magic.

"These boxes contain several important family heirlooms, including my old prefect badge from school, my great-great uncle Bibulus's Order of Merlin third class badge, and a delicate moonstone jewelry set. They all need to be polished—"

"—without magic." James grumbled under his breath. "But wouldn't it be better to polish them with magic?"

"The moonstone set is goblin-made and responds well to hand polishing."

"It's like being a bloody house-elf." James groaned, picking up his polishing cloth.

"On the contrary, house-elves are far more reliable workers than you three will ever be." Muriel snapped.

"House-elves actually are starting to get more rights and some even get paid in our time, thanks to our Aunt Hermione's efforts." Roxanne piped up.

"Hermione? Oh yes, the muggle-born. Bad posture and skinny ankles. I remember her. Utterly preposterous. What rights have house-elves ever needed?"

"They don't get paid!" Said Fred.

"They don't need to be!" Said Muriel.

"You can't just enslave other creatures." Said James as he scrubbed a particularly stubborn bit of grime.

"I see her strange ideas have rubbed off on you all." Said Muriel darkly. "What can you expect when you associate with people like that, with mud bloods—"

"Don't call her a mud blood!" They all yelled. James threw the old prefect badge at the wall so hard it made a dent. "I'm out." He stalked out of the room. A moment later, Fred and Roxanne followed.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Said Ginny, who had been standing in the hallway.

"I'm not being that old hag's assistant any longer!" Said James as he stomped down the stairs.

"Language, both of you!" Said Victoire, pushing up the stairs past James. "What on earth happened?"

"Muriel called Aunt Hermione a mud blood, because, well, she's behind the times I guess, and James snapped. We left to." Said Roxanne.

"Yeah, she's a hundred and seven. New ideas don't go over very well at this age." Said Ginny. "She still lives in the past when it comes to muggle relations."

"He'll go after anyone who insults the family." Said Victoire. "He'll never admit it, but he loves us. He's just a little hot-headed about it sometimes."

"How do I survive raising him?" Ginny asked.

"Uh. . . to be honest, I don't really know. I know he had a tracking charm on him until he went to Hogwarts, and there were always a lot of pranks. He does get quite a few howlers."

"I'll bet he does. I also noticed you seem to be a mother hen type, especially with them."

"Well, I'm the oldest cousin, except for Teddy. You and Harry pay very well for babysitting, especially when James is involved.

"Hey guys, Muriel's pissed off and Mum's trying to calm her down. Do any of you know what's going on?" George was walking toward them, looking confused.

"Yeah, she insulted Aunt Hermione and then James, Fred, and Roxanne walked out on her." Said Victoire.

"It's so weird hearing you refer to her as Aunt Hermione." Said George. "Anyway, Muriel's really mad and Mum told me to tell all of you not to antagonize her in any way. But seriously, it's about time someone told her off. It looks like I've got two amazing kids and a cool nephew."

"It doesn't matter how cool your nephew is if Muriel kicks us out." Said Mrs. Weasley, stepping into the hallway. "This is very serious. I'm not sure if you kids realize the gravity of the situation you've fallen into, but if Muriel kicks us out we could be dead by morning."

"I'll talk to them about it." Said Victoire. "Maybe if they paid attention in History of Magic they'd actually have a clue about current affairs."

"And I'll make sure they stay away from Muriel." Said Mrs. Weasley. Suddenly they heard a scream. "What was that?" Mrs. Weasley asked sharply.

"Revenge." Said Ginny.

"Revenge?"

At that moment, James, Fred, and Roxanne stormed up the stairs.

"Fucking dungbombs!" James yelled. "In the bedroom!"

"Language!" Mrs. Weasley and Victoire said at the same time.

"Maybe you shouldn't prank your own mother." Said Ginny, grinning nastily.

"That's it!" Said James. "This calls for a prank war!"

"No it doesn't!" Said Victoire angrily. "We can't do anything else to make Muriel mad, or she'll kick us out! I don't think you understand how serious it is!"

"I understand just fine!" James snapped. "Not that you'd know, you always treat me like a little kid!"

"I'll start treating you like an adult when you start acting like one!"

"Enough!" Mrs. Weasley shouted. "James, Fred, Roxanne, why don't you go down to the parlor. Victoire, do something else." They slowly dissipated, leaving Mrs. Weasley alone in the hallway. She sighed heavily. It would be a miracle if they got out this alive.

 **Author's note: I'm so sorry I haven't updated this in forever!**


	13. Chapter 13

Harry, standing in Crosserly's office, leaned over and expected the device that would hopefully be able to rescue his kids from the past.

"How much longer until it's ready?" He asked.

"A few days?" Said Crosserly. "It's not stable yet, so we can't transport anyone yet. The consequences would be disastrous."

Harry nodded. "We do need this as quickly as possible, my son has informed me that Muriel keeps getting angrier and angrier at them."

"I'm doing everything I can, Potter." Said Crosserly angrily. "This is the most people and the largest time jump I've ever seen." He shifted through the stacks of notes and magical items on his desk. "You just need to hang tight until it's ready."

Harry nodded and left the room. It had been four days now since the children had disappeared, and their absence weighed heavy on him. He missed training Teddy on Auror missions, missed Al's shy smile, Lily dragging him into tea parties, even James' nasty pranks. He always told the kids he wanted peace and quiet in his home, but now he'd have given anything to hear pounding feet in the hallways and voices screaming about quidditch.

He walked back to the Auror department's offices and saw Ron with his feet on the desk, surrounded by empty chocolate frog wrappers. Ron was a stress eater.

"How's it coming along?" Ron asked through a mouthful.

"Corsserly says a few more days until it's stable." Harry replied.

Ron groaned and sank down in his seat. "A few days? Harry, I can't survive without the kids around!"

"You'll have to learn. Hugo goes off to Hogwarts this year."

"No! The house'll be so empty."

Harry nodded. "We're gonna be empty nesters. Anyway, I should probably check in with the kids." He pulled out his phone and called Teddy, since Teddy could be relied on to answer his phone and give Harry accurate information.

"Hi Teddy, how are things?"

"They're . . . interesting. How much longer until that time travel device is ready?"

"Crosserly says a few days." Harry replied.

"A few days?" Teddy whined. "We're not gonna survive a few more days!"

"You should be fine. The house has all the protective charms, and no one should be able to get in."

"No, it's not that. James started a huge prank war because he got mad at Aunt Ginny. Now it's him, Fred, Roxanne, Dominique, Uncle Fred, and Uncle George versus Aunt Ginny, Lily, Hugo, Molly, Louis, and Victoire. The rest of us didn't take sides. Now you can't move without stepping in something nasty. Muriel's furious at us all, and Grandmum Molly's losing her mind."

"Somehow, I'm not surprised by this." Harry groaned. "Anything going on besides the prank war? How are your parents doing?"

"They've been around for dinner every night. They spent a couple nights here until James and Fred's Dolores UmBitch Pink Glitter Bomb scared them off."

"I hope I can see them when we get you guys." Said Harry. "There's so much we never got to talk about."

Harry thought he heard Teddy sniffle a little, but it was cut off by a thump from the other end and a series of tiny shrieks.

"Lily!" Teddy shouted, his voice muffled as though he had turned away from the receiver. "Why did you do that?"

"It's not fair!" Lily yelled. "Hugo keeps beating me!"

"That's no excuse to upend the chess board, you're eleven years old and should know better. Look, all the pieces are trying to run away from you. Harry, I'd better go." There was a series of thumping and scuffling on the other end, then—

"Hello?"

"Rose!" Harry and Ron cried. "How are you?"

"I'm fine." She said. "How much longer until we can go back?"

"I just talked with Crosserly." Harry replied. "He says a few days."

"Did you tell him all about the Familius Linearus? Specifically about all the magical specifications; I've been trying to do m own research on these, but Auntie Muriel's library is pitiful in comparison Hogwarts—"

"Yes, we told Crosserly everything we knew about it." Said Ron. "I see you've been keeping busy."

"Yes, well, you have to do what you have to do." Rose replied. "At least I'm doing constructive with my time, unlike some people. Cough cough, James."

"How bad really is that prank war?" Asked Harry. "Teddy seemed pretty disgusted by it when I talked to him."

"Oh, it's pretty bad. Never a moment's peace. Teddy's very actively not taking sides, and Al, Lucy, and I stayed out of it. Everyone else is in it either for the fun of pranking or because they want to get back at James and Fred. Just this morning James released a bag of bullfrogs that he got from lord knows where in the parlor."

Harry groaned. "I'll have to have a little chat with James later on. Why he does these things, I'll never know."

"It's because he's your son." Said Ron.

"I was never like that!" Said Harry

"There was a lot of shit you did during our school years that never really got explained." Said Ron as he turned away from the phone.

Sighing and shaking her head, Rose quietly hung up and the two to their banter.


	14. Chapter 14

"Roxanne?" **Fred** called. "Roxanne?" He paced from room to room until he finally found her sprawled on a couch with Dominique, paging through the daily prophet. "Can I talk to you, just really quick?"

Roxanne looked confused, but nodded and followed him out of the room. **Fred** walked a short way down the hall and ducked into a room that no one went into, one with all the furniture covered in dusty sheets.

"I wanted to talk to you about my brother."

"Which one?" She asked, the corner of her mouth tilting into a smirk.

"You know which one. George. Your father."

Roxanne nodded. They had both seen George laugh too loudly at jokes that weren't funny, hang a little too closely on his twin's heels, throw himself a little too whole-heartedly into this prank war. But no one had dared broach the subject with him. It was easier to just pretend it didn't happen, especially to those who lived in 1998.

"I'm worried about what will happen to him after I'm gone. I don't want him to burn out, and I don't want him to just drop the joke shop just because I'm not in it anymore. I don't want everything we worked for gone."

"You don't have to worry about the shop." Said Roxanne. "It's alive and well today and we expanded into Hogsmeade. But yeah . . . he didn't do very well after the war. I think he drank a lot. He actually went and got drunk on firewhiskey every year on the anniversary of the battle, until he realized we were old enough to be aware of it. He stopped after that. I think I was five." She paused and wiped an unshed tear from the corner of her eye. "He told me a little bit about it, but I think he glossed over a lot. I found Uncle Bill's old journal from that year in his attic when I was snooping in there for . . . reasons, and anyway, there's a lot in there that Dad certainly didn't tell me."

"God. I don't want him going through that. But it sounds he was trying to protect you." Said **Fred**.

"Yeah, well, I was only twelve when I started asking him about the war. I don't think I needed to hear about his nervous breakdown at that age." She looked away, her warm brown eyes suddenly cold and dark.

" Please tell me he gets his mischievous spark back." Said **Fred**. "I don't think I'd be able to watch him from the afterlife if he was just moping and drinking firewhiskey."

"Oh don't you worry." Said Roxanne. "You should see April Fool's Day. We turned into a huge shebang to honor your memory and we try to out-do each other with the pranks every year. He also encourages all our wrongdoing and has added to his joke repertoire with some truly awful dad jokes."

 **Fred** sighed heavily, taking it all in. "Well, I can't say I'm happy to be missing out on the future. But I think you'll be all right."

"Thank you." Roxanne whispered, and suddenly she darted forward and hugged him.

"For what?"

"I've never had a real conversation with you. Just your portrait in the shop that tells jokes and with resurrection stone first year, but those don't count—"

"Hold up." Said **Fred** , pulling away slightly. "The resurrection stone? But that's just a story."

"No it's not, it's real. We found it in the forest—please don't ask how it got there, it's a long story—and we talked to you. But you were just a ghost; it wasn't real. And I was fighting James, Fred, and Teddy for your attention."

"Wow. I'm not even going to ask." Said **Fred.** "Sounds like you've had some wild adventures. Anyway, I have an idea for how to help George. I'll get back to you later." He left the room.

Roxanne waited on tenterhooks for the rest of the day, wondering how her uncle was planning to span the gap of twenty-one years and bridge between life and death in a way that could possibly help George. She spent the rest of the day mindlessly stashing dung bombs behind doors and pounding out her stress on the grand piano in the parlor, until Auntie Muriel came in and screamed at her not to touch the heirloom piano. But it wasn't until after a very chaotic dinner during which Mrs. Weasley found a pinecone in her seat and threatened to beat them all with a wooden spoon that **Fred** got back to her.

He cornered her in the hallway outside the room she was sharing with Rose and Ginny and handed her a thick envelope.

"It's letter for George. I wrote down everything I wanted to tell him. I know it'll get to him about twenty years late, but still . . ." He impatiently wiped his eyes. "It can't fix your past, but it can fix your future."

Roxanne took the envelope and tucked it into her pocket. "I promise I'll give it to him as soon as I get back."

"Thank you. I really hope . . . I don't know. It's not really all that orderly. I just kind of spewed my thoughts onto the page.

"That explains the thickness of this envelope. How'd you hide this from the rest of the family?"

"I asked James to distract George for me. If I'm not mistaken, they spent the afternoon filling Victoire's bed with mud."

"Ooh. That's not gonna be pretty when she finds out."

"I know. It's gonna be hilarious."

There was a loud scream from down the hall. "What the hell? Why the hell is there mud in my bed?"

"OMG she found it." **Fred** whispered. "I gotta go see this. Keep that letter safe." He flashed Roxanne a set of finger guns and ran out of the room.

Roxanne carefully folded the envelope in half and shoved it firmly into her front pocket, where she felt the corner of it dig into her thigh and knew it would be safe. If this letter could truly fix things for her father . . . if she didn't have to see him sitting alone in the back room of the shop, his eyes focused on nothing, if she didn't have to see him standing in the back at the anniversary celebration for the battle every year, speaking to no one . . . Roxanne sighed. She'd been enjoying the time travel and the prank war, but it would be nice to go home.


	15. Chapter 15

"Please?"

"No."

"Please? Just let us be in the room. We won't make a sound!"

"The answer's still no!" Said Lee, feeling exasperated. Albus and Rose glared at him reproachfully. He glared back, still amazed by how much they resembled their parents. Just looking at Al's face was enough to give him flashbacks to his fifth year, Harry's third. He could almost believe that Sirius Black was still at large.

"Fine. You can come in. But you've got to keep quiet." He opened the door and let them in to the room, where they were busy setting up for another episode of _Potterwatch_. Al and Rose sat down in a corner against a wall. Rose, quill and parchment in hand, looked like she wanted to take notes.

As Lee tested the microphone, he noticed the others sidling into the room. Teddy and Victoire, Fred and Roxanne, Dominique and Lucy. But as Lily, Molly, and Hugo entered, Remus spoke.

"No. You three shouldn't be in here."

"And why not?" Said Lily indignantly.

"This is heavy stuff we're talking about. We have murders to report. It's too much for youngsters like you."

"Kids our age at Hogwarts right now are hearing about it too." Said Molly. "Sorry, but we're staying, Mr. Lupin."

"She's got a point, you know." Said George.

Lily made a great show of smacking her bottom down on the floor and wrapped her arms and legs around James in case anyone tried to forcefully remove her. James looked at her with disgust and tried to pry her hands off him.

"Fine." Said Remus, looking around at the thirteen people sitting against the wall. "But you've got to keep quiet, all of you, ok? This is a live broadcast we're doing. Lee, you're on."

Lee turned the microphone on and started talking. "Good evening and welcome to another episode of Potterwatch. I'm pleased to tell you that two of our regular contributors have joined me here this evening. Evening, boys!"

"Evening, River." Remus replied.

"The Jordan River!" Rose hissed as she scribbled it down. Albus jabbed her in the ribs and put a finger to his lips.

"But before we are from Royal and Romulus, let's take a moment to report those deaths that the _Wizarding Wireless Network News_ and the _Daily Prophet_ don't think important enough to mention. It is with great regret that we inform our listeners of the deaths of Ted Tonks and Dirk Cresswell."

Teddy dropped his head and Victoire squeezed his hand as they mourned the grandfather he'd never known.

"A goblin by the name of Gornuk was also killed. It is believed that Muggle-born Dean Thomas and a second goblin and a second goblin, both believed to have been traveling with Tonks, Cresswell, and Gornuk, may have escaped. If Dean is listening, or if anyone has any knowledge of his whereabouts, his parents and sisters are desperate for news."

The next generation looked at each other in shock; Dean had been alive and well as long as they could remember. Nigel Finnigan-Thomas was in the same year as Molly.

"Meanwhile, in Gaddley, a Muggle family of five has been found dead in their home. Muggle authorities are attributing the deaths to a gas leak, but members of the Order of the Phoenix inform me that it was the killing curse—more evidence, as if it were needed, that muggle slaughter is becoming little more than a recreational sport under the new regime."

"A recreational sport." Victoire whispered. She had gone very white. The others shared similar looks of terror, no doubt remembering their muggle friends and family. "That's barbaric."

"Finally, we regret to inform our listeners that the remains of Bathilda Bagshot have been discovered in Godric's Hollow. The evidence is she died several months ago. The Order informs us that her body showed unmistakable signs of injuries inflicted by dark magic."

"The snake wearing a dead lady." James whispered to Fred. "I'm still having nightmares from hearing about it four years ago."

"God, that's horrible." Dominque whispered. "I'd forgotten all about it. Why did Uncle Harry have to tell us about that?"

"Listeners, I'd like to invite you newt join us in a minute's silence in memory of Ted Tonks, Dirk Cresswell, Bathilda Bagshot, and the unnamed, but no less regretted, Muggles murdered by the Death Eaters."

Silence fell in the little room, except for the breathing of the occupants and the soft scratching of Rose's quill.

"Thank you." Lee continued. "And now we turn to regular contributor Royal, for an update how the new Wizarding order is affecting the muggle world."

"KINGsley." Fred muttered. "Oh, I get it now."

"Muggles remain ignorant of the source of their suffering as they continue to sustain heavy casualties." Said Kingsley. "However, as we continue to hear truly inspirational stories of wizards and witches risking their own safety to protect Muggle friends and neighbors, often without the Muggles' knowledge. I'd like to appeal to all our listeners to emulate their example, perhaps b casting a protective charm over any Muggle dwellings in your street. Many lives could be saved if such simple measures were taken."

"And what would you say, Royal, to those listeners who reply that in these dangerous times, it should be Wizards first?"

"I'd say that it's one short step from Wizards first to Purebloods first and then to Death Eaters. We're all human, aren't we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving."

Rose wrote his words down and circled them several times. "There it is." She whispered.

"Gotta love minister Shacklebolt." Albus muttered.

 **Fred** threw them a look that clearly meant "Be quiet." Remus had started to speak.

"There have been numerous reports from around the country of people holding "Support Harry Potter" parties. Doing so is unadvisable in our current state, and you-know-who's followers are keen to kill or torture anyone who holds one."

James had a manic glint in his eye as he scrawled "support James Potter parties" on the edge of Rose's parchment. She quickly swatted his hand away and scratched out the words.

"Rubeus Hagrid, Hogwarts gamekeeper, was found to be holding one of these parties." Remus continued. "He is now currently on the run."

"Oh, please don't let anything bad happen to him." Lily moaned.

"He's doing just fine nowadays, you dolt." Said James. Lilly swatted at him and James swatted back. Rose, looking scandalized, grabbed them by the arms and yanked them out of the room.

"What are you two doing?" She hissed. "We have to be quiet if we want to here the rest of the broadcast!"

"You know, I'm really not keen on hearing the rest of it." Said James. "It's . . . it's . . . yeah."

"So now you're finally realizing that the past is not very nice and it's dangerous to throw time turners like that." Said Rose. "Caught on, have you?"

"Yes. I'm sorry, Rose. For everything. Maybe I shouldn't be around magical items." He turned to leave, but Rose grabbed his arm.

"Hey. It's ok. None of us knew just how serious this was. Now, I'm going to go back in and keep taking notes. Are you coming?"

"No point. It's all the past. Let the past die, Rose." He turned and walked up the stairs.

Rose reached out and put an arm around Lily, who had started to cry. "Oh Mum and Dad." She whispered. "Please come soon. Please."

Author's Note: I'm sorry about the long hiatus. I've been busy with school, but hopefully I'll find the time to update!


	16. Chapter 16

"Well, this is it." Said Harry, gazing up at the huge time gate. He shuffled under its arch next to Ron, Hermione, Percy and George.

"You know the drill." Said Crosserly. "Call me once you've reached the other side, and call me again when you're ready to return. We'll go on my count."

"Good luck!" Ginny called from where she stood with the rest of the Weasleys. "Will you be ok, George?"

"I'll be fine." He said. But he was twiddling and twisting his key ring, something he did when he was nervous or stressed.

"You'll be fine. We'll get through this together." Said Percy, sliding a protective arm around his brother.

"Ready now!" Yelled Crosserly. "One—two—three!" He slashed his wand downwards and white speaks began shooting from the sides of the gate. They shot faster and faster, spiraling like lightening, until the whole thing turned white-hot and the group vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Taking this horse by the reins, making redcoats redder with bloodstains." Said James slowly and deliberately.

"It's no use." **Fred** moaned. "I'll never be able to rap this stupid, futuristic history musical."

"No no, you just need to practice." Said James. "I'm taking this horse—" He was cut off by a loud bang and several adults appearing out of thin air.

"Dad!" James screamed. He leapt up and jumped into his father's arms.

"Well I'm glad to see you too." Harry grunted. "You nearly knocked the wind out of me."

"Weasleys!" Screamed Louis, who had been sitting with **Fred** and James. "They're back! We're saved!"

A frightful pounding of footsteps was heard throughout the house as hordes of people came running from whatever corners of the house, pouring into the sitting room where the adults had appeared.

"Dad!" Molly shrieked, then flew across the room into Percy's arms, Lily and Hugo running in after her. Rose tossed aside a massive book she'd been reading and joined the fray. Teddy and Victoire let go of each other's hands and joined the dog pile on top of Harry. Soon all the adults had disappeared under a pile of teens, and the noise of their gleeful yells and exclamations and admonishments was deafening.

Mrs. Weasley stood in the doorway, watching her children and grandchildren, her heart nearly bursting with happiness and pride. First there was Harry—dear, sweet Harry, the boy she'd taken under her wing. Here he was all grown up, more muscular, better dressed, but still with horrible hair. He had James and Albus wrapped around his neck, Lilly talking in one ear, Teddy and Victoire talking in the other, and James shouting over them all about how the whole thing had been an accident. She watched as he attempted to pry his sons' hands off his neck, all while telling James to kindly shut up and telling Lily that he would listen to her side of the story later. She smiled, seeing him grown up and successful on his own.

Then there was Ron, her youngest son, her baby except for Ginny. He was more muscular too, and somehow seemed even taller. His clothes were no longer faded hand-me-downs, and there seemed to be a new aura of confidence about him. And he was married to Hermione; they'd finally acted on their feelings for each other. Now they were both sitting on the floor, laughing and talking with their children.

And Percy—perhaps the biggest surprise of all, back with the family as if nothing had ever happened. She took in his neatly placed glasses and his impeccably clean ministry robes, glad to find that he was still the same. But he was more relaxed, too. She watched as George muttered some snide comment, for which Percy lightly smacked him around the head. Lucy looked scandalized, but Molly laughed and tried to swat George too. Something about watching them brought the biggest smile to her face, one she couldn't even try to hide.

And then George. Wearing an eye-watering neon Weasley's Wizard Wheezes shirt, attempting to steal Percy's glasses in retaliation for being smacked. Despite everything, he seemed to be at ease as he swiped at his much taller brother's face. Still, she noticed him nervously scanning the room. His eyes locked with those of his two-eared double. He quickly looked away and asked Roxanne something about her glitter bombs.

"All right everyone!" Harry yelled from the bottom of the dog pile. "This is how this is going to work. The time gate can take up to five people at one time. There's eighteen people who need to go back, so that's four trips. I will be going in the last trip to obliviate people. No arguments. Who's up first?"

"I'll go." Said Victoire.

"Dom and I should come too." Said Louis. Neither of their parents had come back in time.

"Teddy, are you . . ."

"I'll stay a little longer, Vic."

"Of course. See you on the other side."

"Goodbye, Grandmum." Said Victoire. "Thanks for everything. See you in twenty years."

"That's such a weird statement." Said Mrs. Weasley. "Good luck, dears."

"We have room for two more in this trip." Said Harry. "Who's going?"

They all looked at each other. They all wanted to go home so badly, but now that the moment was here none of them actually wanted to say goodbye.

"We'll go." Said Lucy, grabbing her sister. "I'm sure Mum is worried sick."

"Mum will be fine without—"

"Molly, listen to your sister." Said Percy. She frowned at him but shuffled under the gate with Lucy.

"Got everything? All right, then. One you text me saying you've arrived safely." Harry slashed his wand down and they vanished in sparks and smoke. All was silent for a moment, then Harry's phone buzzed. "They made it back. Who's next?"

"We'd better get back." Said Hermione. "Kids, go and say goodbye to everyone."

"Goodbye Grandmum." Said Rose. "Thanks for everything."

"Goodbye, dears. Do you have that album?"

"Yes, I do."

"Good. Be careful with it."

Hermione took Ron's arm and herded the kids under the gate.

"Room for one more." Said Ron. "Any takers?"

"I'd better get back too." Said Percy. "Bye Mum. I'm sorry about . . . everything, really."

"Percy!" She sobbed, and wrapped in a bone-crushing hug. "It doesn't matter, or it won't anyway in the future. Go home, have fun. I'm glad you've loosened up a little."

He smiled sadly and stepped back under the time gate. Harry slashed his wand down and they disappeared. He looked around. It was just him, George, and their kids left.

"Harry." Said Remus. Harry walked over and hugged his old teacher for the first time in over twenty years. "I see I made a good choice when I made you Teddy's godfather."

"You had me worried at first, but I worked it out." Said Harry. "I had a lot of help, in the beginning."

"You've done well. Raising kids isn't easy."

"You're telling me." Said Harry. "Trust me, your kid's got a good set of lungs and a mean right hook."

"I should let you get back to your life in the future." Said Remus. "Where's Teddy? We'll have to say goodbye to him."

Harry nodded, then stepped away to corral his children. "Come on, you three. Under the time gate."

"Where's Teddy? Isn't he coming back with us?" Asked Lily.

"He's saying goodbye to his parents. He'll be along in a few minutes." Said Harry. "James, your mother is waiting for you on the other side with your punishment."

James gulped.

"And her love, of course." Harry quickly added.

"Yeah, I'll be really feeling the love when she spanks me, puts my tracking charm back on, and locks me in my room until September." Said James.

"You'll feel the love as you remember it's what you deserve." Said Lilly glibly.

"Shut up Lilly."

Roxanne and Fred squeezed their way under the arch next to their cousins.

"Goodbye Uncle Fred!" Roxanne called.

"Fuck 'em up, Roxanne!" **Fred** yelled back. "You two will do great!"

"Are we ready?" Asked Harry. "One . . . two . . . three!" He flicked his wand and they vanished. Looking around, he realized it was just him, Teddy, and George left. Teddy was wrapped so tightly in his parents' embrace that it was nearly impossible to see him. Fred and George were talking quietly in the corner. Not wanting to eavesdrop on painful and private conversations, Harry awkwardly stepped backward.

"Harry."

Harry jumped. He hadn't realized Mrs. Weasley was right behind him. "Mrs. Weasley. Or—well—you asked me to call you Mum at some point in the future."

"Oh, I hoped so." She said tearfully. "You've grown up so well. I'm so proud of you." She hugged him tightly. "I didn't think we could ever get through the war, but somehow we did. And the kids are alright."

"Family. It was the glue that kept us together. Given all we've been through, I'm surprised the Burrow is still standing."

"Dad and I put many, many strengthening charms on it over the years, especially as the twins grew up." Said Mrs. Weasley. "It should stay up for many years."

Harry sighed. "I should probably go back."

"Of course. Good luck, dear." She stood there, watching him, looking so worried and faded that Harry wanted to run back to her and throw her under the time gate. But she was there in the future, too. The whole family would arrive to the sweet, sun-filled summer of 2019 eventually.

"Are you guys ready to go?" Harry asked. Teddy gave a small nod. George said nothing and stood next to Harry under the gate. Harry raised his wand and cast two spells—the time gate spell and a powerful memory charm. As he slashed his wand down, the room filled with white light, then with a great roar they were gone.


	17. Chapter 17

One by one, families drifted away from the Potter household. Percy and Audrey left first. From the look on Percy's face, everyone knew he had questions to answer for his daughters, and they left him to go and do it.

Bill and Fleur left next. Dom and Louis followed without argument, but Victoire hung back. Teddy looked down at her and told her he needed to be alone for a while. She nodded and followed her family away as he went upstairs.

Ron and Hermione left soon after, Ron to write a report on the incident and Rose to restore the album to its place on the shelf by the fireplace at the Burrow.

George was still there. Harry figured that by going home, George would be forcing himself to face a lot of personal demons and bad memories, so he was trying to delay that for as long as possible. On the other hand, Ginny looked like she was ready to explode at James, but felt uncomfortable doing that in front of her brother and his family.

"It's ok, George. Go on." Said Harry.

George nodded nervously, but gathered his children, one in each arm, and stepped into the rushing green flames.

Ginny turned and looked at Harry. "Teddy . . ."

"Is upstairs." Said Harry. "I think we should leave him alone for a little while, to process what happened."

Ginny nodded. "That's probably the best thing to do. All right, where's James? James?! Get down here!"

James shuffled sheepishly into the living room.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you are in, young man? Any at all?"

"Let me guess. I'm grounded."

"Maybe. I haven't worked out exactly what your punishment is yet. But you are in serious trouble. You could have been killed. You recklessly endangered not only yourself but also your cousins. You could never have been born if you messed with the past too much. Do you understand me?"

James nodded.

"James, my office is off limits to you for good reason." Said Harry. "You can't go in and play with dangerous items for a laugh."

"I wasn't playing with them. I wanted to see what the past was like. To meet Uncle Fred, and Teddy's parents. Is that so wrong?"

Ginny sighed. "In this context, yes. I know you wanted to meet them. But time travel is extremely dangerous, and there's other ways to see the past, like a pensieve. McGonagall has one in her office, and you're in there at least once a week."

"See? I was just acting on a natural desire!"

"And you are still being punished." Said Harry. "I heard Dudley just got a new laptop. Maybe I could send you over to help him set it up."

"Dad, no! I don't know shit about muggle computers! I can barely send an email without mine blowing up because of all the magic in this house!"

"He's joking. Probably." Said Ginny. "We will work out the details of your punishment later. But for now, go to your room. Give me your phone too."

James sighed loudly, but handed over his phone and stomped up the stairs. Harry turned and went up too, but past James' room to the one Teddy infrequently occupied.

"How are you holding up, Teddy-Bear?"

"It's just . . . a lot. I didn't think I'd ever get to see them, alive. And to interact with them. It wasn't like the memories I saw in the pensieve, and yet . . . so real."

Harry nodded.

"And yet the context was all wrong. I wasn't born yet. I saw my unborn self kicking my mum from the inside. Do you have any idea how weird that is?"

Harry shook his head. "I can't say that I've watched my unborn self in action. But I know what you mean about the context being all wrong. The first time I saw my parents' faces was in a magical mirror. I saw them again when my wand connected with Voldemort's, and again with the resurrection stone. But all those times they told me how brave I was and how I could defeat Voldemort. Never a normal conversation like hey, we're out of milk, could you get some more."

"Well, I guess I'm doing better than you. We played chess a couple times, talked history and politics, spent some time bitching about people named James who play nasty pranks . . . Everyone always tells me that I'm a really even mix of both of them, and now I finally see what they were talking about."

"Yes. You've turned out very well despite them not being around." Said Harry. "I'm proud of you and how you handled it all. Meeting your parents, time travel, managing twelve rambunctious kids . . . you've done well."

"Thank you. But also, I turned out responsible because of your guidance."

"Don't give me the credit!" Said Harry. "I was seventeen when you were born. The first time I tried to hold you, Grandmum Molly had to step in and grab your head before it tilted too far back!"

"That's hilarious. Wanna re-enact it?"

Harry laughed and pushed Teddy away from him. "I'm all right, thank you. You're much less scary now that you can hold up your own head." He paused. "I should probably go think of a punishment for James. Are you going to be all right?"

"Of course. I just need some more time to process." Suddenly Teddy leapt off the bed and hugged Harry. "Thank you."

"Of course, Teddy-bear."

That night, peace finally reigned over the extended Weasley family. Molly and Arthur slept soundly in their burrow, the grief for all those they had lost still there but joined by powerful love and hope for their grandchildren, who were at last in the year they belonged.

Bill and Fleur were comfortable in Shell Cottage again, glad to hear faint death metal music coming from someone's bedroom and to hear their children arguing once more. Victoire was asleep in her room, the last waking thoughts in her mind those of baking a batch of brownies for Teddy the next day. Dominque, too, was asleep, a photo of her posing with several dead people on her bedside table. The next day she would hang it on her wall next to other cherished pictures. And then there was Louis, the horror of the time travel already fading, replaced by the new horror of the realization that he would be taking his O.W.L.s within a year.

Percy and Audrey's home was quiet too. Percy couldn't even be mad that Molly had pulled out her paint set, then proceeded not to paint anything and to leave the paints on the table all evening. The air had been cleared of whatever gunk was still left. The girls knew of their father's past, and knew that he was by no means perfect, and they loved him anyway. _Prefects Who Gained Power_ had had its spine cracked through again as Lucy had finished it a few hours before going back to her proper time. It was now tucked on a high shelf, since she thought it dull and figured there was more to being a prefect than paging through an old book.

George and Angelina's home was quieter than usual, and more peaceful than it had ever been. George had disappeared that afternoon to read a long, long, letter, and when he came out with suspiciously red eyes he hugged his wife and children tightly. He stopped later to thank Roxane for bringing that letter across time and space, and she replied that the idea was all Uncle Fred; she hadn't had anything to do with it.

Ron had relaxed into the wonderful notion that he wasn't an empty nester, and even when they did leave for school the children would both be back for Christmas and summer holidays. Rose had drifted off to do more research on the war to square what she had witnessed with what she knew from History of Magic Class and Hugo drifted away to hang out with Lilly, despite the fact that he had been stuck inside with her for several days.

And as for Harry, he relished in the pile of muddy shoes by the back door, books and papers all over the couch, and the ice cream splatters on the counter that James hadn't bothered to clean up. He was also excited about the note he'd stuck to the bathroom mirror, reminding him to put new lock spells on his office and never leave it unlocked again for any reason. But best of all was his wife's sleeping form beside him, and as he rolled over and placed his arms around her while hearing what sounded like James sneaking downstairs for another bowl of ice cream, he felt that there was not another man in the world so rich as he.


End file.
